Born in the Wind
by GreenNightStar
Summary: Sometimes we let affection, go unspoken,  Sometimes we let our love go unexpressed,  Sometimes we can't find words to tell our feelings,  Especially towards those we love the best.
1. Chapter 1

**Ben 10 and all of its affiliations are not owned by GreenNightStar.**

_**Chapter 1**_

Ben Tennyson was finally going to be able to relax and enjoy some of his first summer vacation. Even though he had been on the vacation for almost two months, it wasn't until now that he actually got some time off from being a hero.

On the first night of their cousin-grandfather camping trip, Ben had been wandering through the forest looking for anything to suppress his boredom. Eventually he stumbled on an alien-ejected pod from a space ship. Inside was the all-powerful Omnitrix – which found its way onto the young boy's wrist. It took him a few weeks to get used to the technology and what it could do, but before he knew it he was saving lives and being a _hero._ Being an alien hero was just what Ben needed to escape the predicted boredom, but it didn't help his liking of the trip. He knew that as long as his cousin, Gwen Tennyson, was on the trip with him that he would probably not like anything they would do over the three-month summer.

It wasn't until they arrived on a beach in Pensacola, Florida did his disposition towards the whole 'vacation' idea change. The steaming hot sun beating on his back and the cold waves crashing against the blinding white sand had him sold. He was ready to dive into the cool ocean right at the moment he laid eyes on it. Unfortunately for Ben, his T-Shirt was still on; although, it wasn't really a problem. Quickly, he removed his plain white T-Shirt and joined his cousin Gwen in the ocean water.

Grandpa Max took to sitting on the shore in a large beach chair under an umbrella. In his hand was a refreshing coconut beverage that he had bought from one of the shops just off the shore. Max never liked the idea of swimming too much and always complained about getting sand stuck to him. He said it was just uncomfortable.

Not for Ben or Gwen, they both enjoyed the water and the sand. They knew that they could simply rinse off then get dried of the water in no time.

The water was very calm and was just the right temperature to enjoy their first real vacation day. Gwen had decided to float on her back in the refreshing water – attempting to get a tan in the process. Ben quickly saw that she was vulnerable to an attack. Performing the quietist swim over to her as he could, Ben ended up right beside her. She had her eyes closed and looked peaceful. He almost felt guilty about what he is going to do. Shaking the feelings of guilt aside, Ben spread his arms out to their full span and then pushed them together as hard as he could. This stunt made quite a large wave and it washed right over Gwen's face.

Startled, she stood up on the sandy ground below the water and turned to face Ben directly. Her face was a beat red and annoyance was in her eyes. It was just the right time to get mad too, as the waves started to pick up and ruin the perfect oasis of the calm ones.

"You little…grr!" She made an angry groan but didn't speak anymore. All the blood that had rushed to her head out of anger vanished and was replaced by a devious smile. This had Ben a little worried.

"Uh oh," was all the ten year old boy could manage to let out before the scene before him took his breath away. Gwen's eyes had turned a shade of blue and her hands rose up with a slight curve in her fingers. Right behind her was a wave at least ten feet high. "Wait…Gwen!" Ben tried to reason with her, but she just smiled and continued what she was doing.

It was easy to here the screams of terror from all the people around them. They began rushing out of the water and onto the shore. Gwen waited until they were all safe and then allowed the wave to crash right on top of Ben. In no time, he found himself underneath the surface of the water – being pushed very quickly in some direction. He just hoped that direction wasn't towards the middle of the ocean.

Luckily for him, his back had been facing the shore when the monstrous wave hit him. So after he had drifted a bit under the water, his body eventually came onto the shore. He sat up, a bit dazed, and looked back at his cousin – who was just about the walk up onto the sandy coast.

"Gwen, I was just playing. You didn't have to throw a huge wave at me!" Ben yelled angrily at her, before storming off towards Grandpa Max and his little beach-fort he made with the umbrella.

Gwen stood on the shore, alone, and looked at her cousin who was moving away from her. _Maybe I did overreact, but it's not like he didn't deserve it,_ she thought. Besides, Gwen knew that Ben would come along with a scheme to get her back for what she did to him in no time. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked back into the water to enjoy a little bit more of the beach before they had to leave.

* * *

A few more hours flew by, in which the two cousins stuck to themselves. Gwen had decided to continue floating around in the water, but she never did get a tan – only a sun burn. This made her a bit more irritated than when Ben had splashed her. Still, she shrugged it off and decided not to worry too much about it.

Ben, on the other hand, stayed on the shore probably traumatized of water at that point. He stuck to making odd sand castles and sculptures. One of his _artistic creations _resembled Four Arms; although it was missing an eye and all of the muscles. Gwen kept a mental note to find a way to tease him about that too.

Eventually the trio decided it was time to leave and do some shopping at the local stores along the boardwalk. They decided by a majority vote, because Ben didn't really want to go.

"Well, Ben, if you don't want to come with us you need to wait back at the Rustbucket." Grandpa said to him.

Ben didn't really want to sit cooped up in the run-down RV, but he really didn't have a choice. So he returned to their home-away-from-home and tried to find something to do while he waited. Gwen's laptop was password-protected and he had no idea what it could be. Her password was probably something girly, like a boy's name or the name of a secret stuffed animal. Ben chuckled at the thought. However, it was no laughing matter, as Ben had guessed what her password was. It was definitely a boy's name, but he didn't know that.

_Gwen,_ Ben thought, _she's probably the most annoying cousin anyone could ask for. Always thinking she's right. Always trying to make me feel bad about something. She reminds me of Cash, from my school. I'm just glad she's only around for the summer. _As soon as the last sentence left his mouth, he realized that his words sounded hollow; almost as if he _didn't_ mean them.

Without much else to resort to, he pulled out his GameStation from under the bunk in the room the two cousins shared in the back of the vehicle. Hooking it up to electrical outlets by the bench, the gaming device was soon powered on and life had been brought to it. Sumo Slammers was his first choice of game, and really his only choice, as he didn't have many others with him.

He played the game in the silence of the Rustbucket. Passing a couple levels of the addicting game, he got lost in the virtual world of Sumo Slammers. Battling through evil monsters and other martial artist, he finally passed the game in only about 40 minutes. Just as soon as he beat the final level, the Rustbucket's door slammed open and two familiar faces walked in. Grandpa walked in and threw a T-Shirt at Ben.

"Got you something, from your cousin Gwen," was all he said before he went into the bathroom of the RV.

Ben quickly unfolded the T-Shirt and became quite angry with what was on it. The shirt had a picture of a cartoonish Four Arm's on the front, probably from that rip-off show that used his aliens. That's not the only thing that the shirt graphic reminded him of. A memory swept back into his mind of the Four Arms sand sculpture he made while on the beach. The shirt was disgraceful, as it didn't even have any of the muscles the real Four Arms had.

He looked back up to where Grandpa had came in and instead found Gwen standing there with another one of her devious smirks on her face. Just as her eyes locked with Ben's she exploded into laughter.

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. So first you crush me with a wave and now you're going to make fun of me?" Ben said, sounding a little hurt.

"Oh come on Ben, lighten up," Gwen said to him before sitting across from him at the table. She moved the GameStation out her way and folded her arms across her chest. "Okay, something's definitely wrong. Usually you would want to get me back with some diabolical plan or something."

It's true. Usually Ben would want to get back at Gwen for what she did to him with some unorganized plan of torment. However, this time he felt different about the whole process of teasing her. What if, every time he calls her a name or embarrassed her, she really does feel hurt inside? Maybe she just covers it up by acting tough. Gwen is pretty good about keeping an unmovable attitude, but everyone has emotions.

Even though he hadn't said anything, Ben had been thinking about the way he's been treating Gwen over their first vacation trip together. _Maybe it isn't right to be putting her through this every day. I mean, hey, I deal with bullies at school all the time and it definitely does not feel good to be made fun of,_ Ben thought to himself.

"Hello? Ben? Earth to Ben," Gwen's voice rang through his scattered mind. He had gotten so caught up in his thoughts that he completely forgot Gwen had been talking to him.

"I-I'm just really tired. That's all. I'll…get you back tomorrow or something," he didn't sound too serious. And to be honest, he wasn't.

She shot him a smirk that said she took what he said as a challenge. "I'll be waiting," came Gwen's voice as Ben began to move to the back of the Rustbucket. Ben decided that it was time for him to head on to bed, but before he could make it all the way Grandpa came out of the bathroom and looked at Ben, shocked.

"Ben? You can't be going to bed yet! Don't you want to go down to the beach one last time before the sun goes down?" He asked in his usual excited, but sincere voice.

While Ben was thinking of an answer, Gwen slid over in the bench to get close to the window. She moved some of the blinds out of the way and revealed a pink sun going down just over the ocean water. The rays of light beamed throughout the remaining clouds. The sky had darkened and the night was beginning to fight for control of the illuminating the sky.

"Wow! It's…beautiful. Come on, Grandpa, let's go!" Her voice sounded excited, but also in awe. Ben, even though he didn't want to say it, thought the sun looked very nice over the water.

"Yeah, Grandpa, let's go." Ben said quickly after Gwen.

Grandpa Max gave a hearty laugh, his usual sign of approval. "Alright you two, just remember we're not getting in the water this late. We are just going to walk around the shore. Maybe even collect some seashells to remember your visit here."

Usually, that would have sounded dull to the cousins, but for some odd reason it sounded more exciting than playing in the sand or swimming. Taking off the flip-flop sandals Gwen and Ben had both wore the first time they went to the beach – because of the heated sand – they decided they were ready to go as they were. Bare-footed and in their bathing suits, the three of them left the RV and began the short walk down to the shore of sand and seashells.

**No****,**** this is not a one-shot story. I just wanted to let you all know that I am now planning these stories out before I write them. I do have the setting of the next chapter in mind already. I have decided to plan ahead so that way I can leave some **_**clues **_**(*hint* *hint*) in my writing as to what might happen.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2**_

Heart-filled laughter soared through the chilled beach air while two cousins ran around the open land of sand together. For the first time in months, they both laughed with one another and not at the other. The wind and freedom of the space they had all to themselves at the beach made them feel relaxed – allowing them to enjoy each other's company. Together they ran after each other, taking turns in who was 'it' in a game of tag.

The sun was just over the water along the horizon. Its rays penetrated clouds that threatened to bring rain, and broke them away. The sky was beginning to get dark from the lack of sun, and the long fight for control between the sun and moon was coming to an end.

At the moment, Ben was 'it', and it was his job to tag Gwen. He chased her around the vast beach area, trying his hardest to get close to her and tag her. She was fast, but Ben had once been in a track run, so that must count for something.

Finally, he began to gain on her and she almost screamed when she saw how close he was. Barely two feet apart from her, Ben reached his arm out and tagged her. When Gwen felt his cold, soft hand land on her exposed shoulder she almost jumped.

"Can we take a break for a little bit? I'm a bit tired of all this running," Gwen said while putting her hands on her knees and breathing heavy breaths.

"Oh come on. You're just mad because I got you!" Ben retorted, almost angrily.

"No, I'm serious. I've got a cramp in my side."

Ben looked at her with curiosity. Was she being serious?

"Alright, fine," Ben managed to say over his thoughts. "Hey, do you wanna go look for some seashells over by the shore?"

Gwen - still breathing a bit heavier than normal - stood up straight and looked at him with a big smile. "Well, at least it doesn't involve anymore running. Sure, why not."

They both walked through the yards of soft sand, getting nearer to the beach shore and where Grandpa was sitting on the ground. The air began to get colder the closer they got to the ocean water. Neither of them showed any sign of feeling cold, though.

Once they got close enough to the shore, but not so close as to get wet by the incoming waves, they each started to look around on the sandy ground for a shell. Most of them were broken into shattered pieces, but a few of them were whole and seemingly untouched.

Ben began to dig into the ground to see if he could find any hiding under the layer of sand. In the first minute of digging he almost knew there would be nothing buried beneath it all. Nevertheless, he continued digging with hope of finding something.

His hopes led him to the right place. Just beneath a bit more sand, a large conch shell decided to show itself to him. Quickly but gently, he pulled it out and held it up. There was sand covering most of it and he couldn't make out the color or if it had any minor damages.

Ben moved closer to the thrashing waves and held the conch shell down so the water would come up and wash it off. Gwen noticed him by the shoreline and decided to investigate her cousin's motives.

"Did you find anything, or are you just playing in the freezing water," she asked with one eyebrow higher than the other.

Ben almost laughed at her remark. Almost. However, he decided to ignore it and continue washing the shell.

"Actually, yes I did," he spoke with sudden delight as he finished cleansing the seashell. Gwen came over to see exactly what Ben had found. When she was close enough to him and the object he was holding, she realized exactly what it was he wanted to dip in the water.

In his hand was a conch shell two times the size of her hand. It was a beautiful gloss white that shined in the moonlight. The surface of it was smooth, and there was absolutely no roughness to it. The shell was the most amazing thing she had ever found buried in the sand, and it was the most amazing seashell she had ever seen.

Gwen raised her hands to meet the level Ben was holding his hands and the shell up. Slowly, entangled in the beauty of the shell, she moved her hands to cup the amazing phenomenon of nature. However, she stopped suddenly when she realized two things. One, Ben was allowing her to just take the shell from him without a fuss. Two, her hands were not just cupped around the conch, but around Ben's too.

With embarrassment quickly overcoming her, she withdrew her hands from around the seashell and her cousin's. The awkward silence that followed was just too awkward for Gwen. She had to say something, even if it was off the subject.

"Hey Ben…can I ask you something?" Gwen looked at Ben with her hands behind her back – obviously still embarrassed.

Ben wanted to make some snappy remark, but he could sense there was no annoyance or taunt in her voice. It was a sincere question, which was certainly odd for Gwen to be asking anything of him.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I was just wondering…in the passed few days – almost week – you haven't done any sort of mean prank on me. You don't even embarrass me in public anymore. Is…is everything okay?"

This question almost caught Ben off guard. He knew she would notice it sooner or later, but this was definitely a little too soon. Ben stopped teasing her because he was afraid that she wouldn't even want to talk to him if he continued. Gwen was really the only person his age that would even think of talking to him. Although, he didn't understand why he was worried about Gwen not talking to him. Wouldn't that make everything better?

"Uhh, well you see," Ben began without thinking, "it's…a funny thing. I want to…uhh…stop teasing you."

Gwen was surprised by what she just heard. "You what? This has to be a joke so I will let my guard down. Right?" She sounded almost worried.

"No," Ben said with all seriousness and confidence back, "when I tease you or make fun of you…it makes me feel like a bully. Believe me, that feeling isn't good. I know what it's like to be bullied and made fun of, or even embarrassed." His head sunk down at the memories of Cash at school. Gwen was stunned and had absolutely no words to counter what Ben had said to her. He was speaking in a way that just didn't seem like Ben. Could there be someone mature and smart behind the obnoxious and careless appearance he outwardly gives? For some unexplained reason, a warm tingle was brought to her gut by the thought of Ben actually doing something _for_ her.

"And I really don't want to keep pretending I can't stand to be around you…because…" He cut his own voice off and let out a heavy breath. An icy breeze passed by, wiping away the final traces of any warmth in the air. Gwen's eyes were locked onto the side of Ben's face as he looked straight ahead at the ocean

"Because what, Ben?" Gwen's voice let Ben know she was focused and ready to listen, but Ben wasn't willing to talk anymore. He stood there, continuing to look out at the vast ocean of salty water.

"Here," he said and handed her the pearlescent-conch. After giving the shell to her he moved away – towards Grandpa – and sat beside him; leaving her standing alone by the shoreline with a cold seashell in her hands.

Gwen stood still, rooted in that spot for several moments until her mind kicked back into action. She put the conch shell down on the ground by her feet and began to search for more seashells, completely taking her mind off of what just happened.

Ben was sitting next to Grandpa Max, who seemed quite cold. Ben had always wondered, though it was none of his business, where exactly his grandfather got the money to pay for all the things they do? Even if groceries and stops to amusement parks didn't kill his bank, then gas for the Rustbucket must.

"About ready to go, Ben?" Max asked his grandson.

"Almost, Grandpa, but I wanted to ask you something first."

Max was more than willing to listen to and answer any question he had.

"Of course, Ben, what is it?"

"Well, I know it isn't any of my business, but where do you get all the money for the things we do?"

Max gave a slight laugh after hearing what Ben had to say. He then leaned back and put his hands behind him, digging them into the sand – something Ben thought his grandfather would never do because of his disliking of sand.

"You see, back when I was in my _glory days_, we got paid quite a bit to do what we did. No one else would take those jobs, because of the dangers there were in doing it. We were set for life after our first couple of expeditions. After that, we continued doing our _plumbing_ job for many years to come, but after we had dealt with Vilgax all the jobs just seemed to die out. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, because financially we were secure; although, it would've been nice to do just a few more things with some of my old friends."

"So, you're basically saying you're extremely rich?" Ben's mind was a bit boggled by what he heard.

For the second time, Max Tennyson let out another small laugh. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Just don't tell your parents"

Ben and his beloved grandfather both laughed. Even though Max laughed along side Ben, he was being serious. Ben knew what his Grandpa meant, and he had no plans of exploiting any _secrets_ they shared to his parents – or anyone else.

The two of them sat staring at the open water for a few more minutes. In those minutes, Gwen had decided to give up on searching for anymore _amazing_ seashells. She sat down next to Ben and her grandfather with the white conch shell Ben had found in her hand.

Nightfall had set in long ago and it was probably almost ten o'clock.

"Alright, let's go back to the Rustbucket and get some shut-eye. I want to get started early on the road so we can beat the morning traffic."

It was a good thing Max had said something, as Ben and Gwen both were starting to fall asleep. Lazily, they got up and began to follow Max back to their mobile home with Ben in the back of the line.

"Hey," Gwen shouted, "don't spit on me!" She turned to face Ben with a tired, but angry, glare.

Ben looked at her with a confused expression. He was completely clueless as to what she was talking about. He held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "I didn't do anything."

"Oh yeah, then what got my arm wet?" She pointed to a spot on her arm with a small drop of water.

Grandpa was the one to answer her question. He pointed up at the sky and simply stated, "That's your culprit."

The three of them looked up at the sky. Barely visible were large fluffy clouds that, if it were daylight, would probably be very dark and grey.

Gwen looked back at Ben and then at her own feet. "Sorry…" she muttered, feeling a bit ashamed.

"It's alright, but let's just keep going so we don't get drenched."

She nodded and the three of them continued to move in the direction of the RV. Just as the rain began to start pouring down, they made it to the door.

The two cousins rushed inside as their courageous grandfather held the door for them. Once they were inside Max rushed into the safety of the mobile home right behind them. They were all fairly soaked in rain water. So, one at a time, they took turns changing in the uncomfortably-small bathroom.

Once the trio got comfortable in their warm night clothes, they decided that it was time to tuck themselves in for the night. They each went to their designated beds and Max made sure to shut off all of the lights. The Rustbucket was completely dark, save for the bleak moonlight shining through some of the windows.

Ben could hear the rough snores of his grandfather, but they were barely audible over the sounds of thunder, rain, and strong wind. The whole RV shook slightly each time a gust of wind blew and rattled each time a crack of thunder made itself known.

_Thunder,_ Ben thought, _I bet Gwen is still awake. She has always been afraid of thunder. I'm not sure why. I mean, it's only noise. It's not like it can hurt you._

"Hey, Gwen, you awake?" Ben spoke in a loud whisper, but it was almost drowned by the ambient sounds of the weather.

For a long moment, she didn't speak. Eventually, her voice came back sounding a bit frightened by the suddenness of someone speaking.

"Y-yeah," was all she said.

"Are you alright?" Ben didn't sound all too concerned, but he tried to make himself care. He never understood how to care about things that didn't bother him. He never understood how to be selfless.

"Of course I'm alright, why wouldn't I be?" She retorted in a suddenly hostile tone that made Ben throw away all sincerity for her. He turned on his side and closed his eyes, giving up on trying to help her for the night.

Gwen lay on her bed with the covers pulled to the edge of her chin. She was frightened of the thunder, and the way the Rustbucket rattled each time didn't help her cope with it. For a moment she started to forget all about the noise. Thinking, instead, of how Ben's been acting lately.

_He doesn't seem to be himself anymore. Maybe he's finally maturing?_ She laughed at the thought of Ben ever maturing. _He might be maturing, or maybe something in his life is making him change._

Before she could try to think of a hundred more reasons for the way Ben is acting, an extremely loud crackle of thunder broke through the sound barrier. Bringing with it, lightning that lit up the night sky.

"Hey, Ben," she loudly whispered into the darkness, half expecting no answer.

After a long drawn-out moment of silence and a few more burst of thunder, an answer returned to Gwen's ears like a messenger bird.

"Yeah, what," came a young boy's hoarse voice.

"M-maybe…I am a little bit scared." Gwen didn't want to admit her fear directly to Ben, but she thought he might be able to help. Maybe one of his aliens could change the weather?

Gwen heard the sounds of the bunk bed creaking beneath her followed by two feet land on the floorboard of the RV. Out of no where a fluffy stuffed animal landed beside her face. She turned to face the soft intruder and found out it was Ben's bear he slept with.

"I don't know if it will help, but you can sleep with Furry Freddy. He will keep you company."

Feeling overjoyed that Ben would do something like this for her, she had a sudden urge to jump out of her bed and give him a hug. Instead she just took the stuffed animal and tightly embraced it in her arms.

"Thanks, Ben." They both smiled, and Ben got back into his bed below hers ready to fall asleep.

Gwen held the bear with a tight grip. It did make her feel better, but it wasn't the bear itself that made her feel safe. She thought it as part of Ben, and that he was right beside her in the storm.

**This chapter was inspired by the song **_**Storm **_**and the song **_**Everything**_** by **_**Lifehouse**_**.**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3**_

Gwen was the first to awake the next morning. She opened her eyes with no sign of any lack of sleep even after last night's storm. In front of her, still wrapped in her arms, was Ben's bear. Once the furry stuffed animal was directly in her sight, a slight smile came to her face and a warm feeling in her stomach arose. After giving the bear one last tight, thankful squeeze, she began to maneuver off her bunk.

Trying to get off a top bunk without making any noise is definitely not the easiest thing to do. Each time Gwen would move a creak would sound off like an alarm. Finally, getting to the edge of the bed, she hopped down off the top. Her feet hit the floorboard making a soft thud, but nothing major enough to wake anyone else up.

As soon as she was standing on the firm floor of the Rustbucket, she realized something wasn't exactly right about the morning. It was definitely light outside, but there was absolutely no sunshine. Curiously, Gwen walked towards the bench-and-table setup and sat down – sliding across one of the benches to get closer to the window.

She moved the blinds aside and looked outward to the ocean water. Lightly tinted grey clouds covered every inch of the sky and rain softly fell from them. Luckily, all the thunderous noise and lightning had seemingly vanished over the night. The sun, which was probably rising behind it all, had absolutely no chance to shine with these barriers in its way.

Gwen had always liked the rain because of the noise it made, as well as the way the clouds would block out the sun. It wasn't that she didn't like the sun, but rather that it sometimes would give her headaches – especially in the afternoons. Honestly, she quite enjoyed the morning sun and the _new day_ feel it brings; but each time the sunset starts she gets a feeling of nostalgia – missing the morning and dreading the end of a day.

"You know, I do want Furry Freddy back," a scratchy voice whispered into the gloomy, lightly-lit vehicle.

The suddenness of the break in silence made Gwen jump a little. Ben let out a chuckle and slid into the bench across from her. He looked out the window next to them and let out a heavy sigh.

"More rain? Man, come on."

"What? You don't like the rain?" Gwen asked with her signature expression of curiosity – raising one of her eyebrows higher than the other.

"Well, I do, it's just I don't like when it rains in the morning. It can rain all it wants in the afternoon and all night, but just not the morning. I think the mornings are the best time of day and all this rain is just ruining it." He put both of his hands on his face in a pouting gesture.

Gwen's eyes widened for a split second and then returned to normal. She never thought that Ben actually appreciated any part of a day. The fact that he did was amazing on its own; but knowing that he felt the exact same way about which part of the day he enjoys, left her speechless.

Two audible thuds came from just behind the two of them. They both turned around to see their grandpa getting out of bed.

"Morning kidos," he spoke while yawning and rubbing his eyes, "ready to get started on the day?"

"Yeah like we can do that while it's raining," Gwen said, putting her arms across her chest.

"It's a good thing I didn't have anything planned then. We'll be on the road for a good few hours."

"Hours?" Ben jumped in the conversation. "But Grandpa, we just got here."

"I know, but if we spend too much time in one spot we won't be able to see too many more places."

Ben knew his grandfather was right, as he always is. But he wished that he could just spend one more day here. Ben always liked the beach because of the way the ocean seemed so endless; full of possibilities and continuing for ever. To be honest, Ben quite enjoyed the rain at any time when he was near the beach. He liked the way it would cloud the viewing distance and make the waves go much higher. It was definitely more dangerous, but that just fueled his curiosity a bit more.

Suddenly, an idea hit Ben and he swore a light bulb was atop his head. _If I just turn into Gray Matter and maybe 'break' something inside the RV then we would have to stay here another day,_ Ben thought. He now considered himself to be a genius, and imagined himself being praised at an expensive college.

"Uhh…I have to go…to the bathroom!" Ben spoke, heightening the sound of his voice at the end of his sentence.

Max and Gwen both gave each other concerned looks. Before they could even question Ben, he was off in a quick dash towards the built-in bathroom. Gwen opened her mouth to speak, but her voice was drowned by the sound of a door slamming shut.

Ben, feeling safe and secure in the little bathroom, looked through the aliens on his Omnitrix – turning the dial until the image of a small, bug-eyed alien appeared in the center. Before pushing down on the risen dial, he hoped that the green light wouldn't be seen outside the door.

Taking a chance, he pushed down hard on the dial and began his transformation. His whole body began to feel weird and tingle, as he lost size and a few of his human body parts. It was an interesting feeling, but he had done it enough times now to have gotten used to it.

Once his transformation into Gray Matter was complete Ben began to set his plan into action. He climbed on top of the white toilet and made a large leap up onto and air vent. Luckily, he was small and thin and was able to squeeze – just barely – through the vent blades. He was now in the air vents of the vehicle. Even though they weren't on, it was definitely freezing up there.

Ignoring the cold, he began to move in the direction towards the front of the Rustbucket. It was quite easy to reach the front, as there was only one way he could go. Taking a few more twist and turns he finally noticed that there was a distinct sound throughout the vents. A chill was sent down his spine, because he feared that his grandpa might have turned the air conditioner on. He sat still for a few moments and then realized it didn't sound anything like an air conditioner. It sounded like small, liquid drops were hitting the top of the vents. _Rain,_ he remembered, _it's just the rain._

Ben breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't in his plan to be blown around by a stronger-than-usual AC unit. Finally, he reached a small drop that slid down the side panel of the RV and dropped into the front dash board. He jumped down the chute and landed in the perfect spot to get a view of what was going on inside the vehicle.

Peering through a small front-dash vent, he saw that his grandfather was making something on the stove – which would need another ingenious plan to avoid – and Gwen was on her laptop. _Good, _he thought, _nobody suspects anything._

Now, knowing for sure that he was unnoticed, he moved forward into the vehicle just a little more. Finally, after going through a maze of equipment, he found something that would make sure they stayed here for at least another day. An oil tether stretched from the engine onto some weird container.

Using the mind he acquired from being Gray Matter, he started to analyze and disable the correct areas of the tether.

"Okay, now all I have to do is disconnect the fuel transporting unit from its source. That way, it won't attempt to spew oil all into the hood and ruin the rest of the equipment down here," the voice of Gray Matter spoke to no one in particular.

As soon as the job had been done, Ben knew that he wouldn't be able to stay in his alien form for much long. So going back the way he came was definitely not an option. Quickly, once again using Gray Matter's mind, he decided that the best plan of action would be to come out of the dash-vent and move his way back to the bathroom. There he could safely transform back into his human self.

Ignoring his building ego, he rushed back to the front dash board from the inside of the hood and squeezed his way through the vent blades – which were much tighter than the ones by the ceiling. After a bit of struggling, and almost being seen by Max, he plopped onto the floor. Regaining his posture from before the long fall, he scurried across the floorboard like a mouse running for its life. Careful not to hit anyone's feet, he ran as fast as Gray Matter's little body would let him. He was only half way to the bathroom door when two dire things happened. He realized that he wouldn't be able to get into the bathroom because he couldn't reach the doorknob or go through the bottom crack. He also took a heavy note on the fact that the Omnitrix was beginning to blink red.

"Oh man, not now," Gray Matter's squeaky voice pierced the air – which Ben now realized was a mistake. Quickly, he darted to behind one of the benches attached to the wall of the RV.

"Gwen, did you hear something?" Max stopped cooking and turned towards Gwen at the table.

"No, did you?" she replied, not looking up from the computer screen.

Ben's grandfather didn't immediately return to cooking the bitter-smelling food and looked around the room.

_Come on, and I thought old people couldn't here that well,_ Ben thought in annoyance.

After giving the room a quick sweep with his eyes, Max decided that it must have been the wind blowing against something loose outside. Just as soon as he had stopped, he was back to cooking.

Making one final dart for the room where the two cousins slept, Ben rushed across all odds and was just about to make it into the sanctuary of their room when he felt a familiar sensation of tingles and the feeling of missing body parts returning to him.

The transformation back into his human self was quick and brief. As soon as he was sure that it was over, he made one final dive into the back room – making a loud crashing noise as he hit a couple of things on the way in.

The noise startled both of his family members in the other room. Gwen and Max both walked over to the room to find out what was going on.

Cautiously, Max spoke into the room without actually going in. "Ben? Is that you in there?"

It took a moment for a reply to be made, but eventually Ben spoke to reassure them. "Yeah, it's me Grandpa. I was just playing…Sumo Slammers and trying a new roll-and-tackle move." He choked on the hideous lie, as it was plainly a bad one.

Max squinted his eyes in suspicion, but eventually let the feeling subside. "Well, okay, but be careful." With that, he retired back to the stove.

Gwen, still standing in the doorway looking at her cousin lying on the ground covered in his own laundry, said, "And here I thought another alien was attacking us."

"Well we didn't get that lucky." Ben got up, shaking the laundry from his shoulders, and tried to go out into the main room but Gwen blocked his path.

"Are you going to move?" he asked, trying not to sound all too offensive.

"Not until you tell me what you were really doing," the orange-haired girl crossed her arms, an obvious sign she was determined to get the answer out of him.

"What are you talking about? I told you I was doing some new Sumo Slammers trick."

"Uh huh, sure you were. You expect me to believe that?" Not allowing him to respond, she put a finger on his chest and pushed him back on his bunk bed. Taking a hold of both his wrists, she pinned him down onto the bed while continuing to stand next to it.

"Hey let go! It's not like I did anything wrong."

"If you didn't do anything wrong then why do you have a problem telling me?"

Not answering her, Ben watched as his grandfather sat in the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition. He watched eagerly, hoping that he didn't cause anything fatal to the RV and that his plan would work.

His hopes soared when he heard the sound of the key turning and then engine trying to start up, but in the end failing. Ben couldn't help but let a smile come across his face.

Gwen, now understanding what her cousin did, returned the smile. "You…?"

"Yep," he spoke, cutting her off.

**This chapter was supposed to include quite a bit from my next one, but I decided that it is taking me to long to update. So I am going to release this one to hold you over. I would update a lot more frequently if I actually had my own computer. I used to…but I uh…made it explode.** **I do plan on getting another one in a few months. ***Spoiler* **- The next chapter will introduce the infamous 'problem' in all stories.**

**Also, please PM or leave in a review, any grammatical errors you spot. I didn't have too much time to reread this one.**


	4. Chapter 4

**All store names are fiction, any reference to a real store or its location is purely coincidental.**

_**Chapter 4**_

"Well, no mechanic will even bother to come down until the weather clears up. So it looks like we're stuck in here until then." Max was overwhelmed with stress. His plans of leaving and going somewhere _special_ for the next day were ruined.

"Grandpa, we could go check out the stores we didn't see yesterday. I mean, it isn't like they're far away. We could just walk to them," Gwen spoke hopefully.

_This isn't what I had in mind when I thought we should stay here another day,_ Ben thought. _Why can't we go down to the beach? Who cares if it's raining?_

"I guess that's the only thing we can do to pass the time," he said sourly. "Ben, are you going to come along with us on this one?"

As much as Ben did not want to browse through a few stupid stores, he didn't have much of a choice. He didn't break the Rustbucket's oil system just to sit inside of it all day. If that were the case, then he wouldn't have done it at all.

"Yeah, sure, why not."

"Good. Now let's all get dressed and ready to go."

Ben and Max began changing in the main room while Gwen changed in the back with the door shut. Ben took longer than usual – trying to drag the time on – because he still wasn't too happy about all of what's happening. _Why wont something interesting come up; or something come and take my mind off of everything, _he thought bleakly.

As soon as the three of them had gotten their daily clothes on, Max pulled an umbrella out from behind a cabinet door and led the way out into the rain. Gwen and Ben stayed close to him. Even though the umbrella was fairly large, it still wasn't made for three people.

The boardwalk that held all the stores on top of it wasn't very crowded. There were a handful of people here and there, but nothing major. Most of them had umbrellas, but a few wore ponchos to cover themselves from the rain. Luckily, the boardwalk was large and very wide, so nobody ever ran the risk of hitting another person with their umbrella.

"Hmm, Alvin's Island? That sounds interesting. It looks to have a good selection of that 'beach-gowers' attire. What do you guys say? It beats standing out in the rain right?" Max spoke happily to his two grandchildren.

"Sounds good," Gwen replied.

"Sure," Ben mumbled, pouting.

They started the walk towards the two-story brick building with blue canvas over every window; passing a few people coming from the direction they were headed.

The minute the trio got to the entrance they pushed there way inside – eager to get out of the rain and under the sanctuary of a roof. Max retracted the umbrella, shaking off the loose water outside before completely stepping inside.

"I'm sure you two wouldn't find what I might look at all that interesting, so go with each other around the store and find something you like. Oh and here," Max pulled out a few dollar bills from his pocket and handed them to Ben. "Just in case you do find something you like."

That was all the confirmation Ben and Gwen needed to take off on their own. However, having to stay together was a bit of a downer, but neither would openly say they didn't want to go with each other. Although, neither would say they _wanted_ to go with the other either.

The two came upon a rack of sunglasses because of Ben's lead. He decided that he never wore sunglasses and wanted to see what it was like. He meticulously chose a pair that had orange lenses and a yellow-green frame.

Looking at himself in a small mirror attached to the rack, he said, "I don't see what is so cool about these things."

"They're not supposed to be _cool_, doofus, they protect your eyes from the sun," Gwen said, while trying on a pair for herself.

"Yeah, I know that. Why else would they be called sunglasses?" Ben retorted with an annoyed expression.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go look at something else."

They put the sunglasses back on the rack and continued to walk around. The two cousins came across an aisle filled with old Mardi Gras masks. They were colored purple and gold and definitely stuck out amongst other things in the store. Ben picked one up and tried it on. The nose on the particular mask he fixed on his face was extremely long, and he could barely see out the eye holes. Quickly, unknowingly to Ben, Gwen pulled out her digital camera and snapped a few photos of Ben in the ridiculous headgear.

Finally realizing what Gwen had been doing, he flung the mask off his face and began to chase her. She shrieked when, through the interface of the camera, she saw her cousin charging after her. Gwen put the device back into her pocket and also began to run, but away from Ben.

Ben chased her around the bottom level of the store, dodging a few people and going through mazes of aisles. Their innocent laughter echoed across each aisle and caused a few people to poke their heads out and see what was amiss.

Gwen had absolutely no idea what Ben would do to her if he caught her. Frankly, neither did Ben, but all he cared about was to be around her. He didn't understand why he began to have these feelings about anyone, and they sent him into confusion every time they came to him.

The two winded another turn and were now sprinting down the main aisle of the store. Gwen turned her head around, while still running, and saw Ben was falling behind. Just as she stuck her tongue out to taunt him, she ran into something.

A loud crashing noise was made as the sunglasses rack they had been at earlier fell over. Dozens of glasses fell to the ground and slid across the floor.

Ben caught up with his fallen cousin and helped her up. She looked around at the mess and sulked. "Now look what I did. We're going to be in a whole lot of trouble."

In her eyes, Ben could see how sad she was and disappointed. A store clerk was walking their way. He had shaggy hair and probably couldn't even see them from the distance he was at. Quickly, Ben pushed Gwen out of the scene of the accident and into a nearby aisle.

"What happened here, dude?" the young clerk asked.

"Uhh...I fell," Ben lied.

Unfortunately the man saw right through his ruse. "Oh sure. I saw you and that girl running around here. Where is she anyways?"

"She...uh…didn't do any of this. It was all me."

The employee tapped his foot for a few seconds with his arms crossed. "Do you have any idea how long it will take me to clean this up? I'd make you do it, but I'm afraid you'll knock something else over. Just get out of the store and don't cause any trouble on your way out."

Ben was about to protest, but the expression on the man's face was all but ready to here an excuse. Muttering a few words of anger, the clerk got to his knees and began fixing the mess Gwen had made.

Still on the floor because the way Ben had shoved her, Gwen watched as Ben walked outside into the rain. He stood by the entrance door, under the blue canvas. _At least he isn't directly in the storm_, she thought.

The orange-haired girl began to stand up. As soon as she was stable on her own two feet, a large hand put itself on her shoulder. She shrieked and turned around – ready to defend herself.

"Whoa, you wouldn't want to put me in the hospital now would you?" Max said, startled.

Gwen relaxed and let her hands fall back to her sides. "Sorry, Grandpa, I didn't know it was you."

"What's got you so tense?"

"Nothing really," she said hesitantly, "but Ben just got kicked out of the store."

Max gave a heavy sigh, but kind of expected something like this to happen. "Well, what did he do?"

"He didn't do _anything_." Gwen said, while putting her hands behind her back and looking at the ground. "I kind of…ran into the sunglasses rack over there," she pointed to the mess at the end of the aisle, "and Ben took the blame."

_That's odd. Now why would Ben do something like that for Gwen,_ Max wondered. His hand moved up to his chin and he looked like he was in deep thought.

"Um…hello? Grandpa," Gwen's voice broke into his head.

"Huh, oh right. Anyways, let me pay for these things and we can get out of here." Max held up a necklace with a shark tooth in the middle and an odd blue shirt with palm trees on it.

"Grandpa, you don't plan on wearing that shirt. Do you?"

"Of course I do, or I wouldn't be buying it."

The corners of Gwen's mouth ticked up, letting a slight smirk show. Rolling her eyes, she said, "Well, I'm going to go wait outside with Ben."

"Alright. I'll be out there in just a few minutes."

The redhead turned her back to her grandfather and made her way to the entrance of the store.

Max held up the blue shirt and made it do a few circles in the air. _Is there something wrong with it_, he wondered. Dashing his eyes from one side to the other, he said to himself, "I'm just…gonna leave this here." Furtively, he laid the blue shirt on top of a couple towels and walked out of the aisle to the pay counter.

* * *

The rain pounded the hard wood outside the store. Still, no thunder or lightning had appeared yet. _How bad can it rain before…_, Ben's thought was cut in half as something caught his eye. Walking in the open was a very pretty girl. Her silky brown hair moved in a single direction as the wind tossed it in the air, and her blue eyes glistened in the rain. His eyes were glued to the depressing scene. She was walking in the rain, letting each drop hit her as she silently moved across the boardwalk.

Remembering the money his grandfather had given him. He dashed into the open rain to the nearest gift shop – one which he wasn't kicked out of. He purchased a decent sized yellow-green umbrella. Just as soon as he had entered the shop, he was out.

Casually, he opened the umbrella and began to walk in her direction, but quicker than her so he would catch up. In minutes Ben was right behind her. Suddenly, the brown-haired girl stopped dead in her tracks. This action caught Ben off guard, and he barely dodged her statuette figure. Slipping on the wet wood, he fell onto his bottom and the umbrella was slung across the platform.

Closing his eyes in embarrassment, Ben wished he would've just stayed by the store and waited for Gwen and Max to come out. In the same moment he tried to imagine it all not happening, someone's hand tapped on his shoulder. Opening his eyelids carefully, he was surprised to see the same girl he had been following standing before him.

"I think you dropped this," she said in an angelic voice and held up Ben's newly-bought umbrella.

He took the umbrella from her hand without standing up and repositioned it over his head. Ben sat in the exact spot for a few moments.

"Do you need help getting up too?" she asked and let out a solid laugh.

Feeling very awkward, Ben answered her with breaking confidence. "Uh...no I-I can do that." Putting one arm behind him, he pushed himself upwards onto his feet and found himself face to face with the pretty figure that had been standing above him.

"Would you…um…be okay if I walked with you. You know…so t-that you don't get wet?"

She smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, and yes I would like that. My name's Savannah by the way."

"Oh, I'm Ben."

Gwen watched as the two of them walked off in the direction towards a couple smaller shops under the protection of Ben's umbrella. A gut wrenching pain was placed in her chest. She didn't understand why the scene before her made her feel sad, but all she knew was it did.

**I listened to the song Planet **by** Kyte basically the whole time I wrote this. It really is a good song.**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5**_

"So, uh, what were you doing walking around in the rain like that?" Ben asked Savannah nervously.

"Nothing really, I just happened to be around here. I live in the condo over there," she pointed to a large skyscraper-like building across a few streets, "and I like to take little strolls sometimes."

"Yeah, but in the…rain?"

"It's just water. It's not like it bothers me, but it was kind of cold today. Thanks for letting me walk with you." She shot him a brief smile, but it soon faded as a strong gust came through and ripped the umbrella out of Ben's hand. It drifted through the air somewhere behind them. Ben turned to run after it but Savannah's arm caught his wrist.

"Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the peace of the rain," she said in a calm voice. Ben turned to look at her and then relaxed and let his adrenaline return to normal.

"Well…okay," he said. Ben couldn't help but be nervous around Savannah. He was afraid she might not like him or he would say something stupid. Typically, when Ben was around girls, he would lose his train of thought completely and – basically – not be himself. Whenever he was around teachers or friends he would think all-around differently than normal.

"Come on, I want to show you something." Savannah continued to hold onto his wrist and gradually let her hand fall into his. She led Ben down the boardwalk and towards a more fancy area of the platform. The rain softly fell onto their exposed bodies. The sensation of the cold rain along with the open breeze allowed a relaxed aura to befall their walk.

Only a few minutes of walking passed before Savannah nudged Ben towards a jewelry store. They both walked, hand in hand. The chill of the cooler shop air swept over them and caused a shiver to show itself on Ben.

The old woman behind the counter looked at her entering customers and let a warming smile stretch across her wrinkled face. "How cute you two are." This caused a blush to come to Savannah's tanned face. However, it only made Ben feel guilty and he suddenly felt uncomfortable – though he didn't understand why. A brief frustration was thrown upon him because of these occasional, unexplained feelings.

"Go ahead and look around. Let me know if I can help you with anything." The elderly woman allowed her smile to subside and she returned to another pair of customers beside the counter.

Quickly, Ben was pulled to a glass case that contained a silver pendent with a glimmering ruby pendant.

"Don't you think it's beautiful?" Savannah asked him.

"Well…I...never really had a sense for jewelry. But I guess it looks nice."

Her faced was puzzled. "What do you mean? I think the watch you wear is pretty cool. I haven't seen anything like it."

Ben suddenly felt a bit protective. He didn't think his wristware would need an explanation.

"Yeah…um…not many people have. It's, uh, special order online."

"That makes sense."

An awkward silence befell the two. Savannah now realized that Ben wasn't really someone who appreciated jewelry. She settled on the fact that some people just don't think it's all that interesting. Feeling a bit colder than earlier, she decided that they should visit some other place.

"Ben, it's getting cold in here. Do you mind if we go back outside?"

Ben pondered the question for a little bit. _It's raining outside, and the rain is definitely not warm,_ he thought. _But if we stay in here under the air conditioner, I'll probably get hypothermia or something._

"Yeah, sure," he finally said.

The pair felt a bit embarrassed. They had just entered the store and were now leaving. The feeling was blown away by another violent wind gust as the door from the shop opened.

Ben used most of his strength to push and hold the door open. He squeezed out the crevice he made between the door and its frame and then waited for Savannah to go through. As soon as Ben was sure they were both out, he let the door go and close back into its closed position.

"Ow!" Savannah cried out.

"What's wrong?" Ben turned around to see her hair caught in the shut door.

"My hair," she said bleakly.

"Don't worry, I'll get it out." Ben pulled up his left arm, ready to turn into one of his aliens, but then realized what the consequences might be. Not only would everyone around him freak out, but if Savannah saw a huge alien where Ben used to be then she might not be too calm anymore.

Abandoning his original plan, he began to pull the door back open. The constant wind made it very hard to even get it to move. Ben's hair flew freely into his vision and tickled his eyes – making them itch like crazy.

The struggle with the door eventually came to an end. Ben was able to release Savannah's hair by allowing a bit of slack from the door and its frame. As soon as he saw that all of her hair was free, he let go of the door for a second time.

The glass and metal door closed tightly with a small banging noise. This time, nothing got caught in between it; but Ben lost his footing and toppled over right on top of Savannah. The two lay next to each other on the ground feeling quite embarrassed.

Their cheeks turned a beat red and were exposed to one another. Realizing this, Ben pulled himself back up and scratched his head. He held his hand out to her.

"Sorry…" he said while helping her to her feet. Still holding onto her hand, he looked at her eyes. They were calm and unchanged. She seemed so okay with what has been happening. Nothing ever bothered her.

"There's an empty stage where they do concerts sometimes. Do you want to go sit over there? I know it has a nice view of the beach," she said, still allowing Ben to grip her hand.

Ben answered with familiar nervousness. "Y-yeah…that sounds awesome."

Savannah chuckled in an innocent fashion, which made Ben find her even more attractive. "Ben, you have to calm down. I'm not judging you or anything. We're just going to go down to the stage."

Unable to feel relaxed, he nodded at her and they walked even further down the slippery boardwalk – a bit closer to each other this time.

* * *

Gwen stood where she had originally planned to wait with Ben – underneath the blue canvas of Alvin's Island's entrance. She felt empty and alone, and knew exactly why. Ben wasn't around to give her any attention, which she desired from him. However, Gwen subconsciously denied what she was sure was the truth.

"Sorry it took me so long," Max spoke as he pushed through the door with a small bag, "but the line in there was backed up because the only cashier was the guy who was cleaning up the mess you made."

Gwen eyed the small bag in his hands. She then realized that he hadn't bought the blue shirt. At least she wouldn't have to worry about her grandfather wearing something embarrassing.

"Say, where is Ben anyways?" he asked in a curious tone.

"Oh he and some girl ran off together down the boardwalk." Gwen spoke with as much of a casual voice as she could muster, but a hint of irritation was making its way through.

"He what now?"

"Nothing Grandpa!" she said sharply.

Max eyed his granddaughter with concern. She looked tense and unsettled. He didn't want to further upset her, as he understood what fighting anger with anger could do. Knowing that Ben would come back when he felt like it, he didn't worry about his whereabouts. As long as Ben wasn't in any real trouble, he would be fine.

"Well, do you want to get some ice cream?"

Gwen was about to protest, but the idea of eating ice creamed seemed to soothe her. A brief memory swept through Gwen's mind. She remembered when the Rustbucket's AC unit had broke and everything in the refrigerator melted. Ben had grabbed some ice cream and offered to share it with her. The creamy dairy product had tasted sweet in their mouths.

"I could go for some ice cream…" she finally said to her grandfather.

"So could I, now let's go see if we can find a parlor around here."

Max opened the large umbrella, which had a lot more space underneath it now that Ben was gone, and the two went in the same direction Ben had left them in.

The scene to the right of Gwen was depressing. A light mist of rain showered over the ocean, making it impossible to see in distance. Waves crashed against smaller waves, racing to hit the shore. Clouds above the ocean were fluffy and dark, but still had a visible outline that separated them from other clouds.

Because of the way the clouds were lit, Gwen was about to make the assumption that sunshine would soon break through. However, a look in the direction that the clouds were moving in from told her that she would've been wrong. Darker – bluish grey – clouds were rolling over each other, and making their way over the beach.

Gwen was really self-conscious, especially about her thoughts. She believed that she should hate the rain and wish it would go away, because that's what _normal_ people want; but in truth, she wanted the rain to stay forever. It made her feel bliss and calm. Whenever she was at home, her parents would complain about the rain, saying that they couldn't go anywhere because of the weather. However, Gwen always thought of it as a perfect time to sit down and actually focus on something.

"Gwen? Are you alright?" Max's voice bulldozed through her thoughts.

_Am I alright? What does he…oh,_ Gwen realized she was standing in the middle of the boardwalk – in the middle of the rain without an umbrella over her – and had not been moving. Her grandfather was a couple of feet ahead of her closing in on a small building with a large ice cream cone on the outside of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something," she said innocently.

"Ah I see. Mind telling me what about? It seemed to really get you caught up," he asked as she walked up next to him.

"It was nothing really. I was just thinking about how I wish this rain would go away." Gwen grimaced at her little lie. She knew it was hollow, as she didn't even buy it.

"I know what you mean, it's just slowing us down today."

They walked into a small ice cream shop. It wasn't too cold for being a place that had to keep frozen foods. The floor was checkered with black and white tiles and the walls were just a plain white color. Nothing was significantly different in this parlor from any other ice cream place, other than the fact that the ice cream was kept in the middle of the store behind a circular counter.

"You go ahead and find a place to sit, and I'll get the ice cream. Just tell me what you want."

Gwen didn't think too hard about the ice cream she wanted. Making up a complex combination of flavors was not what she felt like doing at the time.

"Vanilla," she said flatly.

Max chuckled, "Going for a simple classic, huh? Alright."

With that, he turned towards the circular counter and waited for the server to come his way. Gwen examined the store for a decent place to sit. Most of the tables were empty, but didn't really appeal to her. Finally, she chose a booth near a large window that faced the open water and moved to sit at the leather-laced bench. Even though the window was fogged because of the heat inside and the chill outside, she still enjoyed what little of a view she had.

Gwen watched as her grandfather informed the man behind the counter of which flavors he wanted. She laughed a little inside as she remembered when she and Ben had visited an ice cream shop in the desert. Gwen had asked the man behind the counter if he had anything that was non-fat with less than three percent sugar. He replied with, "Napkins".

Shaking her head, Gwen tore the vivid memory from her head. _Why does every flashback I get contain Ben,_ she wondered. Each time Ben came to her mind, she also remembered how he had walked away with some random girl. The image of him doing so made her feel alone and left out.

"It looks pretty good, but I bet the taste doesn't compare to my homemade ice cream," Max said while moving to take a place at the table across from Gwen. He laid two bowls down on the table. One was filled with a simple vanilla and the other had three scoops of ice cream. The colors gave the impression that they were chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.

"Well Grandpa, I think your ice cream might have some competition," Gwen said as she picked up a spoonful of the vanilla treat and placed it on her tongue. She remembered when her grandfather made ice cream from scratch one day in the Rustbucket. The taste wasn't _too_ bad, but it looked like it belonged in a pig's trough rather than a bowl.

* * *

The walk to this, so called, stage was a bit more quiet than Ben would have liked. Savannah seemed a bit tense and nervous, which Ben didn't expect from her. She definitely seemed unsure of where they were going. Now it was Ben's turn to be the comforting voice.

"Is everything okay?" he asked her, stopping unexpectedly and looking in her direction.

Savannah stared off into the distance and almost rejected the question Ben asked her. Finally she turned to face the boy holding onto her hand and looked very serious, but also seemed to lack her usual confidence.

"Ben…I…we aren't heading in the direction of the stage." She let go of his hand. "Well, I mean we were at first, but I kind of wanted to do something else first, but I'm afraid you might think I'm stupid for even suggesting it."

Ben was dumbfounded. Why would he think of her in a negative way at all?

"Well, where are you taking me now?" he asked.

"I-I…wanted to know If you wanted to go to the…arcade." Savannah closed her eyes, afraid of his answer.

Ben almost laughed, but he knew that it wasn't the time. If she was struggling to ask Ben to go to the arcade with her, she was getting nervous for absolutely no reason. He pulled her hand back into his. "What are we waiting for? Let's go."

She smiled. "Are you being serious? You're not joking and going to run in there and then just abandon me?"

"Why would I do that? You're the first girl who didn't think I was stupid for wanting to play a game", he lied again – remembering how Gwen found Sumo Slammers to be kind of interesting because of the day they got stuck in the game.

They both felt a bit more relaxed and Savannah's normal calm composure returned. "Alright," she started, "it's just over there." She pointed to a decent-sized building on the left of them. It was blue and had a wide open entrance. Ben wondered why he hadn't seen it before.

"And after we're done, then we can go sit by the water on the stage."

The two rushed, hand in hand, to the arcade. It wasn't too crowded, and there were only a few people inside. Most of the games were abandoned of their players and were waiting for the next contestant.

Savannah and Ben looked as if they had walked into a shower and stepped out without a need for drying off. Water slid down the silk of Savannah's hair and ran towards the ground. A similar feat was accomplished with the water on Ben's face.

Ben used the last of the money his grandfather had given him to buy tokens for games. He and Savannah then went around the square building had began playing the attractive games.

One of the games they played together was a game where the two sat across from each other in cockpit-like seats. They flew helicopters and had to wipe out the enemy computer team. The duo had almost beaten the game, but Ben accidently crashed his helicopter into Savannah's. As soon as the screen read 'Game Over' there was a long silence between them. However, out of no where, laughter erupted from their bodies.

They ran around and played a few more games. Zombie killing, racing, and alien battles were just a few of the games they played. An hour of fun passed before Ben ran out of game tokens.

"Aw man, I'm out of tokens," Ben blurted out.

"Don't worry about it. I had fun, and I'm glad you liked it here," Savannah said while placing her hand inside of his again.

"Are you kidding me? Arcades are probably one of the most fun things I can think of doing," he admitted. _The best one being annoying Gwen,_ he thought to himself.

Savannah smiled a lighting smile. "Come on, I have to be home soon, and I want to at least get a look at the ocean from up close – since they don't let people go down near it during weather like this."

Ben nodded in acceptance and the two walked out of the arcade. As soon as they got outside, Ben wished he would have gotten the umbrella back. The cold rain hit them again and destroyed the warmth they had accommodated in the gaming building.

The stage, unknowingly to Ben, was right in front of the arcade. They walked down slippery wooden stairs and onto a low platform. The water was actually brushing against some of the support beams beneath them. It was an interesting feeling to be so close to rough water, but it also made for a blissful scene. They took to sitting on one of the front benches.

The stage wasn't very large and was shaped like a giant opening oyster. Ben thought it looked funny, but at least it didn't block the view of the vast ocean behind it.

"So, do you live around here," Savannah finally asked amongst the chilling rain.

"No. We're kind of stuck until our RV gets fixed," Ben replied.

Savannah's expression changed from bliss to depression. "Oh…well that sucks."

"Yeah I know. I'd like to live out here. Being around the beach all the time is something that I always thought would be cool. I just wish it wasn't so public."

"I know what you mean. Sometimes I wish I could get stranded on an island with someone I really like…and just…drift away into a romantic life."

Ben thought about what she had just said, and realized how much he would like that too.

"T-that…sounds awesome," he said, while feeling embarrassed about his returning nervousness.

"I hope you don't get too nervous to where you can't dance," Savannah spoke while leaning her head onto Ben's shoulder.

"What d-do you mean by that?"

Savannah stood up and walked in front of Ben's sitting figure. She held out her hands in a gesture to dance. The rain began to come down a bit heavier. The water made her hair shine as if it had been chromed.

Ben looked into her glistening eyes while standing up. He took hold of her hands and they formed a dancing position away from the bench. Slowly, they began to step backwards and forwards. Ben recalled a thought and remembered not to step on her toes because…

"Where did you learn to dance?" Savannah asked him.

Ben stopped responding to her movements and looked blankly at the water behind the stage. A wave of guilt crashed over him like the waves below them. It was stronger than his previous feelings. He remembered how Gwen taught him how to dance, and she did it passionately. He also remembered the way Gwen had locked eyes with him every step and looked like she had gotten lost in his own.

"My…cousin…taught me how," he spoke softly – still not moving.

Savannah stopped trying to dance, but continued smiling. Her head moved to the side a bit – not facing him.

"You have feelings for her, don't you?" she asked amongst the loud slapping noises of the rain.

"What? No! That's…crazy," Ben lied and reddened in the face.

"And why would it be crazy?"

"Because she's my cousin and all…a-and…she would never understand." Ben let go of Savannah's hands.

"Ben, if you keep trying to avoid things like this you will just be lying to yourself. You won't ever be happy."

_Maybe she's right,_ he thought.

"Just because other people think something is weird, doesn't mean you have to think like them." Savannah's words soothed Ben's mind. He never thought someone could be so…open-minded. "I mean, I walk in the rain and enjoy the comfort of it on my face. Most people would think I am crazy, but you didn't. Did you?"

"Well, I did at first. But you helped me understand what it means to be...different. I've never been so relaxed before I came by you. All the things that you do are just what you want to do, and not what other people care about. Doing exactly what I want to do, and not worrying what everyone thinks…it's just so…"

"Peaceful," Savannah finished his sentence.

They stood there, looking at each other. For the longest moment, Savannah began to believe that there was nothing left to do or say.

"I have to get going," she said but was surprised when Ben wrapped her in his arms.

"Thanks for everything," he said silently.

Savannah returned his hug and words of goodbye, saying, "And thank you for letting me enjoy today. You're a very cool person to be with."

They let go of each other and knew that this was probably the last time they would see the other. Nonetheless, Ben gave her one last phrase of parting.

"So, I'll see you around?"

The odds of seeing Ben again made Savannah laugh. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ben walked back up the stairs by himself and starting the walk back to where he last saw his family. _Savannah is nice and pretty cool, but she hasn't been through what Gwen and I have been through together_, he spoke to himself.

**Send me all grammatical errors in a PM.**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

Ben walked in a straight path down the wet boardwalk. After being in the rain without protection for so long, it was only natural for him to begin to feel cold. He liked the soft touch of each drop on his face and skin, but the cold side effect wasn't as welcomed.

His hope of getting warmer rose. In the corner of his eye he spotted the yellow-green umbrella that had flew out of his hands caught on the side of a rail. Quickly, he ran over to get it – careful not to slip on the wooden planks.

As soon as he had the umbrella back into his hands, he flung it above him in attempt to block anymore incoming water. However, it wasn't his best idea. The umbrella had been laying upside down – catching the rain water; so the instant Ben put it over him a large sum of water was deposited all over him.

He stood grounded in the same spot with a blank look on his face. _Yeah, this feels much better. Definitely making sure all the water stays away from me, _he thought.

Ben shook the rest of the water off and out of the supposed rain protector and then repositioned it over his head – careful not to have another water flow incident.

In a few more minutes of walking Ben spotted the two story building of Alvin's Island. However, he knew that his grandfather and Gwen probably wouldn't have waited an hour for him to come back. So instead of searching the store – which he remembered he got kicked out of – Ben decided to check out the surrounding stores.

_Book store, clothing, or something like that,_ he thought to himself. Those are the places Gwen would usually want their grandfather to take her, but for some odd reason that isn't where Ben saw her.

Sitting outside of a white-washed ice cream parlor, was Gwen. She was sitting on a bench underneath a small tarp – which did little to protect her from the rain.

Gwen sat on the slightly wet bench watching as the clouds over the ocean began to dissipate. The rays of the afternoon sun broke through the fluffy clouds, tearing them into pieces. The clouds bowed to their superior, the sun, and moved from its path. The sky could be now be seen through little clear patches. It was a deep orange and made the clouds go from grey to red. It was like watching an volcanic eruption. However, even though some of the clouds were going away, the rain still came down slightly.

Suddenly the rain seemed to stop, but only around her. She looked up to see what was amiss. Her eyes met an umbrella being held over her.

"Umm…hey," Ben said in his hoarse voice.

Gwen jumped at the suddenness of it all. She hadn't noticed anyone was sitting beside her. When she figured out it was Ben, a hostile mood flew over her – replacing the depressed one.

"Oh, look whose back from his little date," Gwen said snidely.

"Date? What are you talking about?" Ben was a little confused about her sudden change in attitude. She had looked sad when he sat next to her. Now that Gwen knew he was here, her attitude seemed to of snapped.

"What? Did you forget about the little princess that you basically crawled to earlier?"

"You mean Savannah? She wasn't trying to be me my girlfriend or anything. We just walked around – visited the arcade and stuff."

"So you got her name? Did she happen to give you her number as well, while you two were having fun at the arcade?"

"Gwen, you don't even like the arcade," Ben shot back.

"You don't know that…" Gwen whispered and turned her head away.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked sincerely.

"Nothing's wro-", she slowed down and then took a deep sigh, "I guess I just got a little…jealous."

Ben was a little shocked. He expected her to yell at him again and then resent the fact that he had been nice. Instead, he seemed to have gotten the truth from her; however unexpected it was.

"Jealous? What could yo-" Ben's voice was cut short by the door to the ice cream parlor opening. Max walked out, folding his wallet up and putting it back into his pocket. He then breathed in a deep breath as soon as he saw that the rain was letting up and the sun was shining in front of them.

The scene before the three was beautiful. Spread across the horizon over the water were thousands of rays belonging to the one sun. The orange sky allowed the dark clouds to stand out over everything else, and the closeness of the water only added to their experience.

"I think there's still time today to call a mechanic over." Max said, and then looked at Ben in surprise. "Oh Ben, you're back."

Ben looked at him and gave a sheepish smile.

"So did you have fun with you're little girlfriend," Ben's grandfather asked with a chuckle. However, Ben didn't find anything funny about what he said. Savannah was an amazing person, but he didn't have any romantic feelings about her.

"She isn't my girlfriend, and she lives here. It's not like I'd ever see her again."

"Oh don't worry Ben, there are many more girls just like her – I'm sure. Now why don't we all go back to the RV and get ready to leave in the morning."

_There is nobody like Savannah, _Ben thought, _and, there is only one person who is better._

* * *

Back at the Rustbucket, Max phoned a local mechanic – who agreed to come out and inspect their vehicle. Ben changed into dry clothes while Gwen, much to Ben's surprise, went to sleep on her top bunk.

Ben thought it was a good time to try and find out Gwen's laptop password. He sat down at the table near the RV window and flipped open the machine. A welcome screen greeted him and then the dreaded "password protected" window appeared. He thought hard about some of Gwen's private information, which he had gotten when he became Upgrade and took over her laptop.

_Upgrade!_, Ben shouted in his mind. _But wait, the transformation might wake up Gwen or cause Grandpa to notice me. He wouldn't let me mess with Gwen's computer._

Ben glanced behind him to see his grandfather outside the Rustbucket with the front grate off of the vehicle. _He isn't going to find the problem,_ Ben laughed, _it's all the way inside and behind the engine._

As soon as Ben realized it might take a while for his grandfather or the mechanic to find the problem, the corners of his mouth ticked up slightly. Now he would have more time to figure out Gwen's oh-so-secret password.

Without too much deep thought, Ben began to type in words that he thought would be associated with Gwen. He tried many combinations and variations. A few that he thought were sure to work were: vegetarian, lily, gwen, password, lowfat, icecream; however, none of them gave him the access he desired. They all resulted in an incorrect password screen.

Ben's cheeks turned red in frustration. _She can't have that hard of a password,_ he insisted. Ben took to thinking of things that Gwen says all the time. He came up with a few new possibilities. After gathering a couple new words he entered: stupidcousin, cousin, annoying, doofus, dweeb.

Again, a screen which told him that all of those password's were incorrect. Ben was on the verge of giving up and going to do something else. However, he gained one crazy idea that was worth a shot in trying. Slowly, Ben fingered the keys "b", "e", "n", and then pressed the enter key.

Ben sat, surprised, and watched as a green screen told him that "ben" was her password. The computer then showed a desktop screen with a few icons and a background that was simply a hill with a large flower on it.

_Her password is…my name?_ Ben was a bit confused, but he soon formulated a reasonable explanation. _She must use my name because I'm so annoying, and she won't ever forget it. And I would never have normally guessed it._

Finally accepting his own explanation, Ben began to surf the internet about things for Sumo Slammers and what new merchandise they might be releasing. He got lost in the web pages and zoned out of reality for a while.

* * *

Outside, Max was looking through pumps and wires that were inside the Rustbucket's engine core. He couldn't seem to find anything wrong and was afraid that it could be a broken part – which would have to be replaced.

He was glad that the sun was setting and would soon be gone, as the heat mixed with the humidity from the rain was almost unbearable. It was times like this when he actually missed the cool, refreshing rain.

"Hey buddy, you the one that called about some broken RV?" a southerner voice asked.

Max turned his head slightly to see a man in a dark blue engineer's suit standing a few feet away from him.

"Yeah I was, and still am." Max replied blandly.

"Well, let me just have a look in there and I'll see what I can do."

Not wanting to converse with the mechanic any longer, Max backed away from the open grate and allowed the man to stick his head inside. He watched as the guy continued to move inside until almost his whole body slid into the engine core.

Max heard a few clinks from inside, and hoped the mechanic wasn't damaging anything. After about fifteen minutes, the man in blue slid back out and spoke without enthusiasm.

"You've got some interesting hardware in there. Stuff I haven't even seen before – almost looks illegal."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but everything in the Rustbucket is legal" Max insisted, trying not to sound worried.

"The rust…bucket? Huh, odd name, but I guess it fits. Anyways, the only problem I found was that one of your oil hoses was unhooked. I don't know how it came to be that way, but I reattached it with no problems. You should be ready to go."

"Alright, thanks. Now about your fee?"

"Oh that, I almost forgot."

_Yeah, sure you did,_ Max thought sarcastically.

"For coming out I charge fifty, and for this simple fix...hmm…fifteen."

Max tried not to act so surprised. He understood that mechanics made a decent paycheck, but now he realized why. Simple diagnostics cost a fortune. Max pulled out his brown wallet from the back pocket of his pants. Taking out a hundred-dollar bill, he handed it to the mechanic.

"I don't have any change on me," the man stated blankly.

"Don't worry about it, and thanks again."

They both gave the appropriate farewell to the other and the engineer walked back to his truck – eventually driving off back to the highway.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Max reattached the metal grate and then retired to the inside of the RV. As soon as he walked in he spied Ben on Gwen's laptop.

"Ben, are you supposed to be using Gwen's laptop. I know for sure you didn't ask her."

Ben gave a sheepish smile and began to rub the back of his head. Max could easily tell he was having a nervous tick.

"Oh, asked her? Yeah I-I did and she said it was fine."

"Ben…" Max repeated firmly.

"Alright fine." Ben closed the laptop screen and pushed it towards the center of the table he was sitting at. "So what are we going to do now?"

Ben's grandfather looked out one of the windows and saw that the sun had fallen below the horizon. The night had already settled in, and, frankly, he was quite tired.

"I think your cousin has the right idea. We should get some sleep. Tomorrow we're going to be getting out of here. Being a day behind schedule isn't something I planned on happening."

"But I'm not tired!" Ben protested.

His grandfather didn't answer, but simply shook his head and walked over to the couch-bed. Lying down on the comfortable material, Max finally spoke to Ben.

"Well, you can stay up and play one of your games until you're tired. Just remember to stay inside and turn the lights off when you're done."

Ben groaned in response, but knew there wasn't much he could do about it. Unexpectedly to Max, Ben got up and shut the lights off. However, he didn't go to bed. Ben went to the front of the vehicle and sat at the passenger seat. There he put his feet up on the dashboard and sulked into the leather seat.

He looked outside the front windshield as the boardwalk began to come to life with people and bright lights. Now that the rain was gone, everyone wanted to be near the beach. Not only that, but the night life seemed to appeal to many people.

Ben had the sudden urge to join all the people that were having fun, but he was sure that his grandfather would ground him for the rest of the summer if he did. So, instead of giving in to his desires, Ben walked to the back of the RV and lay on his bottom bunk.

After half an hour of tossing and turning, Ben was finally able to rest in a relaxed position. Soon, his mind went blank and sleep came over him like the waves crashing outside.

**Please PM me grammar mistakes. Thank you for doing so and for reading! Oh, and I think I might (from now on) be giving the first paragraph of the next chapter in their **_**preceding**_** chapters. So, here is a taste (no matter how bland) of the next one:**

_She walked about the many people. They passed her, and didn't take notice of the young girl without shoes walking alone. All the people cared about was how to impress their girlfriends, or any other girl for that matter…_

**_Extra Note:_ The next chapter should be ready for publishing later today, tomorrow, or the next morning. **


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7**_

She walked about the many people. They passed her, and didn't take notice of the young girl without shoes walking alone. All the people cared about was how to impress their girlfriends, or any other girl for that matter.

The tanned, brown-haired blue-eyed, girl laughed inside. All those people were trying to do futile acts for people they didn't really care about. Savannah's hair fell in front of her eyes as she walked through the crowds. Most people would describe her as a very pretty young girl, but Savannah never thought anything of it. She didn't care much for labels that other people gave each other.

Silently, she walked up to a soda stand and purchased a small drink from the vendor. Soda was one thing Savannah did like. The burn and lively feeling of carbonation running wild in her mouth made her feel so awake.

She walked to a nearby bench that sat beside a building. The small, single-story, structure provided a little protection from the brightly shining lamp posts. It wasn't that Savannah didn't like to be in the light, but rather the lights were way too bright. She was sure that if a shuttle in space looked at the boardwalk, they would be able to see each lamp.

Taking a drink from her soda, Savannah watched as a guy sat next to a woman at an outside bar. He offered to buy her a drink, and she accepted. Shaking her head again, Savannah knew the sole reason why the guy even cared about the woman. To put it simply, she was attractive.

Sitting alone, the young girl turned her attention to the vast ocean on her left. The waves had calmed since the afternoon and now the moon beamed above the water. The sight would have made her feel happy, or she might have at least liked it, but for some reason she couldn't. Feeling truly happy, or good, about anything was something she wasn't able to do – on her own.

* * *

Gwen repositioned herself on the top bunk several times before giving up. The intruding lights just would not leave her alone. She sat up and looked in the direction they were coming from. As soon as her eyes met the boardwalk, Gwen immediately looked away. The lights were too bright to stare directly at after waking up in the middle of the night.

She tried a few more times to look at the lights until the pain of brightness subsided. Soon she was staring right at the long wooden platform that stretched for at least half a mile. There were hundreds of people wandering around on it and the lamp posts illuminated everything so perfectly.

Gwen hopped off of the top of her bunk but her footing was a bit off and she tripped and fell on her back side – making the RV tremble slightly. Frozen in place, Gwen waited to see if her accident had caused anyone to awaken.

After a minute the green-eyed girl thought she was in for the clear, and began to stand up. At that moment her grandfather, Max, made an audible noise.

"Ben…" he started tiredly, "turn down the volume on that…game."

Gwen was once again frozen in place, but as soon as she realized he was talking in his sleep she continued to make her way to the front windshield.

Now, she had a great view of the beach boardwalk, which kind of reminded her of New York at the time. There were so many people and laughter – much livelier than when they had went earlier that afternoon. All of the _excitement_ made her feel lost in a trance. She was being entangled into a thought about leaving and going to enjoy the night like everyone else. However, she knew it would be odd to just walk around by herself, and it might even be dangerous.

Thinking of some way to counter those probabilities, Gwen looked back at her sleeping cousin. He was turned in the opposite direction from the lights with a pillow over his head. _Well, If I took him he might just mess something up and get us caught. And that's if he even wants to wake up and go._

Disobeying her grandfather's instructions to stay inside – which she had no way of knowing because she was asleep when he told them – Gwen exited the vehicle quieter than a mouse scurrying across a floor.

The instant she closed the door from the outside of the RV, a sudden relief tossed itself upon her like a blanket. She didn't care much for doing anything at the boardwalk, but the lights and people just attracted her attention. Gwen at least wanted to see it all up close.

Casually, the mesmerized girl walked across the empty parking lot that held the Rustbucket and up the stairs that connected it to the wooden platform. For being up in the middle of the night, she wasn't really tired. It must be because she had fallen asleep so early.

When she got to the last step leading up on the stairs, waves of talking people blocked her path of going anywhere else. Gwen made her way through the bunches of people as politely as she could. Saying "excuse me", or "pardon me" whenever she got the chance.

Gwen took to walking in the same direction her and Max had walked earlier that day; but only because that was the most familiar area to her. From the center of a large group of people, she spotted the tall building of Alvin's Island, but there was no way she could handle being pushed and shoved by so many people any longer.

Gwen dashed to the side, next to a small, single-story building. Unfortunately, in her quick movement, she knocked over someone's soda. Realizing what she had just done, Gwen began to apologize.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't mean, I was just trying to get away from the people. Let me pick it up…"

"Don't worry about it. Accidents happen, I understand." The voice that spoke to Gwen was soft and angelic. Each word the rolled off her tongue had a sincere peacefulness to it.

Gwen stopped picking up parts of the spilled drink and looked up at the girl, who could only be a year or two older than herself. When their eyes met, Gwen realized who she had just startled.

"Hey, you're that girl Ben was with."

Savannah looked a bit surprised, but it was almost impossible to tell because of the way strands of her long hair came in front of her eyes.

"Yeah, I am. How do you know Ben?"

Gwen rolled her eyes. "He's my cousin. There's no way I couldn't know him."

Savannah then recalled the conversation she had with Ben. He had admitted to having deep feelings for his cousin, but was worried about telling her. Obviously from Gwen's tone, Savannah knew that Ben hadn't said anything about it.

"Well, he is a very interesting person."

"And what do you mean by that?" Gwen shot Savannah a defensive stare and sat down on the bench next to her.

"I mean that he thinks about things differently from most people, but he seems confused on doing so. The time we walked around, Ben would be trying to make me feel comfortable and I returned the composure. But I knew he wasn't doing it romantically, and just because he wanted to. It seems he doesn't get the chance to be himself most of the time – almost like people are constantly judging him. I wasn't."

Immediately, Gwen was stabbed with a dagger of guilt; however, she was also confused about the person Savannah was talking about. The Ben she knew didn't act in the way Savannah was describing.

"Are you sure we're talking about the same person? I mean, Ben doesn't ever try to make people feel comfortable. He always teases me and acts so stubborn. I don't think he cares what people think about him."

Savannah studied Gwen for a little bit, and then spoke again in her soft voice.

"Have you ever considered Ben to be afraid of showing his real self to anyone? He probably teases you to grab your attention. Are you the only one he makes fun of?"

Gwen never thought about Ben's actions so openly. She always thought that he was annoying her just to make himself laugh, but Savannah expanded the possibilities.

"Well…yes I'm the only one he does that too, but what does that have to do with anything?"

_Then he wasn't lying_, Savannah thought to herself and let a small smile come to her face. "I'm sorry, but you never told me your name."

Gwen was shocked at the suddenness of a late introduction.

"It's Gwen," she said flatly.

"Gwen, I think that you should act more sentimental towards Ben teasing you. Then just see what happens."

Gwen knew exactly where the girl sitting beside her was going with those words.

"You mean like…cry?"

"Exactly" Savannah responded without emotion.

"No way! Why would I do that?"

"Do you want to find out why Ben teases you, just you, all the time?"

The question hit Gwen hard. Curiosity was the enemy, and it wrapped the orange-haired girl in its entangled mysteries.

"I guess I could give it a go." Gwen responded in a defeated tone. Her head moved to the side and looked at the floorboards beneath her feet. While looking at the ground, Gwen realized that Savannah wasn't wearing any shoes.

"Hey, where are your shoes?"

The tanned girl moved her eyes down to her feet, but didn't bother to move her head. "I don't wear any unless I have to."

Finding the confession awkward Gwen prodded for more answers.

"Why?"

"Just because I like the way the natural ground feels against my skin. Have you ever thought about life before shoes were invented? For example, back before time was recorded?"

Gwen became more interested in the conversation, because it was on her level. Education.

"Well," Savannah continued," I believe that over time of walking on rough surfaces, our feet gained hardened layers of skin. But ever since shoes were invented, the need for those skin layers became less."

"That makes sense. Where did you learn that?" Gwen asked, intrigued.

"I didn't learn it anywhere. I thought about it myself. Sometimes, I will just think about things – it helps me stay calm – instead of always convincing myself I have to be up and doing something. And I'm not trying to sound like a freaky nature girl or anything…"

Gwen laughed slightly at the reference, but Savannah continued with a small – but warm – smile on her tanned face.

"I'm just saying that sometimes it's best to wonder about certain actions before trying to engage in them. I'm sure a lot of people say things like that, but how many actually head it?"

"You don't ever worry about what other people might think of you? I mean, they could laugh at you and make you feel worse." Gwen spoke with concern, but was very eager to hear how Savannah would respond to her question.

"To be honest, sometimes I do. But I know it won't help to worry about what other people might think. They can't ever make me _feel_ anything unless I let them."

The words that came from the blue-eyed girl's mouth were truthful, and they had a heavy impact on Gwen – who was self-conscious about many things.

The two girls sat next to each other for half an hour. Gwen suddenly felt very tired, and knew that if she didn't return to the Rustbucket she might fall asleep right on the bench. Getting up from the hard, wooden seat, Gwen stretched and let out a large yawn.

"You know, Savannah, I'm glad I gave you a chance. When I first saw you I just wanted to…umm…well scream in your face. I think Ben just made me so angry with you."

Not looking at the young green-eyed girl talking to her, Savannah spoke in her usual relaxed tone.

"You wouldn't be the first," she said and then thought about her parents.

Feeling guilty and angry that anyone could be mean to such a nice person, Gwen felt like it was her responsibility to find out more.

"What do you mean by that?"

The two entered a short silence, but it was shattered by a familiar angelic voice.

"Don't worry about it. Just remember what I told you, because you mean more to Ben than you realize."

With that, Savannah left the bench and entered the large crowd of moving people. Gwen watched as she walked away and headed towards the opposite side – where the highway led to a few large condo buildings.

_What did she mean by that…_, Gwen wondered.

**Okay, maybe I lied about showing the first paragraph of the next chapter before I release it. Right now, I have ideas for the next chapter – but I want to write another chapter on my other story first. (I get to skip school tomorrow, so I will have a good amount of time to work on them, yes!).**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, a little life update here, I dug up an old laptop and a huge monitor. Put them together and I now have a decent writing corner in my room. I've got ideas on notebook paper covering all my walls and, to be honest, it reminds me of a newspaper worker's cubicle. Anyways, I will definitely be focusing on my stories more directly now. Unfortunately I don't have MS Word on here, and I am using a program called PolyEdit, it's still pretty good. Oh, and more importantly, I do have a fluffy Bwen Halloween special being planned. I have the basics out, and will write it a few days before the 31st of October.**

**This chapter is reimagining the Hex and Charms of Bezel episodes. Gwen still gained her powers from Charmcaster, but they never found the Charms of Bezel.**

_**Chapter 8**_

Bacon strips and sausage patties whizzed around Ben. Everything was dark except for the foods revolving around his head. Their smells filled his nostrils and played with his senses. The young boy tried to reach out and grab one of the scrumptious-looking objects. However, as soon as his hands came into contact with one of them it passed right through the floating foods. Again he tried, but to no avail. Ben began to get frustrated and he used both his hands to attempt to catch a sausage patty. Before his hands could wrench themselves around a food item, Ben's stomach started to churn and a sharp pain was brought to his back.

Finally, Ben opened his eyes and realized he had been dreaming. He was now lying on the hard floorboard of the Rustbucket. Even though Ben had figured out that he had been dreaming about the foods, their smells were still apparent. Not only was the scent of food in the air, but the RV was in motion. Ben turned to see his grandfather driving on a very lonely road. There were not many cars and trees were on either side of the road.

Ben stood up - dusting his shoulder of invisible dirt - and followed the attracting smells of food. The trail eventually ended near the counter by the sink. Two white bags sat atop the wooden platform which were full of a breakfast smell.

Max heard Ben's footsteps and turned to investigate. He chuckled lightly when he saw exactly where Ben was standing.

"Yeah," Max started, making Ben jump from the suddenness, "I know I left in a hurry and so I didn't have time to cook up anything."

_Is that supposed to be a bad thing?_ Ben wondered.

"It's just a bacon-egg and cheese biscuit from one of the fast food restaurants back on the beach. I picked them up earlier before we left. There's two in there. One is for you and the other for Gwen when she gets up."

"Well...what about you?" Ben asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth he wondered why he asked the question. Since when did Ben care about other people's health?

"Oh don't worry about me. I ate already." Max lied, he hadn't eaten and wasn't hungry, but he didn't want his grandkids to know that. Not that they would worry, right?

Ben brushed the conversation off and took one of the white bags. He moved to sit on the bench at the table and there he began to eat the food that was hidden away in the bag. The flavors were thrusted into his mouth and whirled around in his mind until he swallowed the bit of food.

Breakfast with his grandfather had never been so satisfying. Typically, Max would collect ingredients from their surroundings and throw them into a pot and then serve them all hot. Ben was glad that he could take a break from it all. A normal breakfast was the only thing he really missed about his home.

Back in Bellwood, Ben was probably the most miserable kid on the planet. Nothing ever went his way. He was always getting in trouble with teachers and didn't have a decent test score to brag of. Gwen seemed to be the one who excelled at everything he couldn't. Each thing that Ben saw as a flaw was just a hole that Gwen filled in. The orange-haired girl was caring and intelligent - the two biggest things Ben was not.

During his thinking time, Ben took a moment to notice Gwen. She was still sound asleep with her back facing him. _Huh..._, he thought, _Gwen doesn't usually sleep in. Almost always, she is awake before me. _Of course, Ben didn't think much more about it than that and returned his focus to the now half-eaten biscuit in his hands.

* * *

Hex was an evil magician who had cruel motives. Wearing a black and red cloak, the pale creature stood almost six foot - towering most men. Magic that was done by chanting spells was usually regarded as fairy tale. However, Hex knew better and surprised everyone who taunted him when he began to say words of unknown origin around people. Those who did hear his chanting usually didn't live long enough to tell about it.

The dark magician was attempting to render six powerful charms. These artifacts were known as the Charms of Bezel in legend. They each brought a significant ability to their wielder. Hex planned to be the only one to hold them and use their power - he could be unstoppable. Nobody would dare to walk in front of his path. At least, not anyone with half a mind.

Thunder boomed throughout the clouds above the evil spellcaster and lightning came down to strike the staff he was holding up. Into the windy air, Hex chanted words which brought fear to even the birds that flew around him.

"Rircurto - Mezmero - Alto!" He shouted into the sky as he stood atop an observation deck.

Speaking those three words and twirling his staff like a broadway cane, the clouds above him circled with great speed. The wind picked up until Hex himself became unsure of whether he would be able to stand in it. Soon, everything transformed into a calm bliss and a hole was ripped in the clouds above the magician. Out of the sky, sun rays pierced through the circular doorway where the clouds met the sun. From the gleaming light, six shining red stones levitated downward toward Hex.

The pale man smiled as, one by one, the Charms of Bezel were gently placed into his hand. His smile was sure to kill any animal that would look his way. The grin of a maniac was plastered on Hex's face as he looked over the city that he was above. Each person went on with their normal life of walking down the sidewalks to run whatever errand they thought was important.

"Those fools, they have no idea how drastically their life is about to change." Hex laughed as he spoke. The thought of being almighty and an omnipotent appealed to his lighter side - if he truly had one.

* * *

Gwen had woken not too long ago and now sat across from Ben at the RV's table. Her hair was in a bit of a mess, and not in her usual formally-kept style. _Just bed-head hair,_ Ben had thought.

The dull road and trees had suddenly broke off into an odd twist of terrain. The Rustbucket was riding alongside a small hill. Ben and Gwen assumed that they were in an east-coast state; though they could not be sure. There were not too many trees anymore and the winding road was leading them up the hill with an overlook at a decent-sized city.

Skyscrapers towered the smaller buildings next to them, and taunted their size. Cars buzzed by pedestrians who tried to cut them off at crosswalks. Nobody seemed to happy to see anyone around them. They all looked rushed and ready to go to work - wherever they worked. One building stood out over all the others. There was a large observation deck which looked over all the buildings. If the skyscrapers were people, then they would be cowering in fear at the size of the deck. It was a crimson red color with a white circular deck that would go from the bottom to the top.

Neither of the cousins spoke to the other. There was an awkward silence in the RV and only the sounds of food being chewed and an engine huffing could be heard. Ben had already finished eating and was beginning to feel a wave of anxiety. The ten year old boy couldn't stand long silences.

"Hey uh, Gwen. Your hair's all messed up!" He said loudly and pointed a finger at her hair - hoping that his sudden taunting would grab her attention.

Gwen looked up at him from her food - which she was actually enjoying - and stared at him with sleepy eyes. She almost looked like she hadn't slept at all the night before. As soon as Ben saw how bloodshot his cousin's eyes were he almost fell off the bench.

"Whoa! What happened to you?"

"Nothing Ben! Just go do...something other than talk to me!" Gwen said angrily, but her face was definitely not showing any anger. Her eyes were squinting, but she just looked all-around tired. Ben, tired of Gwen's random mood changes lately, got up and went back to his bed. There he plopped on the mattress and put his hands behind his head.

_What is going on with her? I try to be nice and now she is just attacking me every chance she gets. Gwen is probably getting sick of me being on the trip with her. That's definitely it. There is no other explanation._ Ben closed his eyes and watery-tears formed in his eye sockets. He held them in because if Gwen hated him so much then she would definitely make him feel worse if she saw him crying.

Ben was frustrated. He wanted to change, and he was trying his hardest to; but no one seemed to notice. Changing was a hard thing to do, when someone is so used to acting in a certain way. Ben wanted to prove to Gwen that he could be mature and smart - but he just couldn't do it when she kept downing him. _Maybe it's not all worth it?_

Suddenly an audible explosion was heard in the direction of the city. Ben rushed back to the table and looked outside the window. The busy city that was a few miles away from the road they were on, now had flames jutting out of different buildings. Even weirder, there was lightning coming from different directions, but there were not many clouds about. The ones that were in the sky were simple white clouds which were not even a tint of grey.

Ben had the sudden urge to say "going hero" and then dash out the door. However, his newfound attitude stopped him and he looked at his grandfather.

"What should we do?" Ben asked urgently to Max.

Gwen and Max looked at Ben with confused expressions. They were sure that his reckless personality would've automatically made him go alien and then head towards the city.

Max stared at Ben in a daze, but soon shook his head - removing his dazed thoughts. "You go ahead and go alien and we'll meet you down there."

That was all the confirmation Ben needed. Pulling the Omnitrix to his face, the brown-haired boy was soon gone in a flash of green light. Stink Fly now stood in Ben's place.

"I'll see you guys on the other side!" Stink Fly called to them as a flew out the RV's door - heading towards the burning city.

Gwen got up and closed the door while Max floored the Rustbucket back down the hill side. There they took an exit road which lead to the city's highway.

The green-eyed girl sat back down at the bench - seemingly calm in the time of peril. Her calmness was probably brought on because of how tired she was. Staying up most of the night before with Savannah was definitely worth it, but she never expected to feel so drowsy afterwards.

Her eyes shot downward to look at the cold table that her arms rested on. Gwen was still a bit stunned by how Ben asked their grandfather what he should do instead of just jumping into action. It just wasn't like him.

* * *

Stink Fly was flying towards the city as fast as he could.

"Gah! I never liked this alien. I keep getting bugs in my mouth. Pah!" He spat in the air. "It needs a mask like XLR8 has."

In a few moments, the flying-alien-bug reached the large town that they had seen from afar. The whole situation was much worse than what they had expected. Most of the buildings were blown apart or had bad structural damage. People were running in various directions and screaming. Fires burned on almost every corner.

The entire city was in bad shape, but Ben was confused as to what actually happened. He couldn't spot anyone that seemed to be out of the ordinary.

Stink Fly looked around with his four bug-eyes and finally saw something that didn't look like it belonged - not that he did either. Floating in mid air was a pale-skinned man with a red and black cloak that flapped in the wind. The man was chanting words which were not audible to Stink Fly's ears.

"That weird guy must be the one who caused all of this!" The green alien said aloud.

Now that he had a clear culprit, Stink Fly flew towards the levitating spellcaster. As soon as he got close enough, Stink Fly yelled out to make his presence known.

"Hey ugly! I got a surprise for you!"

Hex turned around in surprise. "What is th-" His voice was cut short when a slimy, sticky green goo smacked his face. The suddenness of it all caused him to lose his concentration on the levitation spell and he fell to the concrete road below.

Just before his body slammed on the hard road, Hex quickly concentrated on another levitation spell. To his delight, he was fast enough and didn't even brush against the hard road.

The magician was all too happy to find a foe rushing towards him. A devious grin spread across his face as he simply willed fire to come out of his hand. Without surprise to himself, fire spewed from Hex's hand and towards Stink Fly. A sinister laugh rode along the flames towards the incoming bug.

Stink Fly saw the flames and quickly dodged them - moving to the side. It was close, as he could feel the heat of the fire whoosh passed his whole body.

As soon as the fire was extinguished high up in the sky, a familiar RV dashed across the street below them. The Rusbucket had finally made it to the city. Out of the vehicle Max and Gwen rushed out. Gwen still looked tired, but not as much as she used to be. People naturally wake up from their sleepy state after being awake for a bit.

Losing concentration of battle, Stink Fly was hit hard in the head with a dense staff. The impact caused the flying bug to whiz across the air and into a building.

"Ben!" Max shouted as he saw his grandson smash into the stone structure.

Hex also heard the call and turned his own attention down to the two people standing by the RV.

"You must be friends of this thing." His voice boomed throughout the entire city and a deceptive smile came back to his darkened face. Hex then levitated down towards Gwen and her grandfather.

Though Max was powerless to do anything, Gwen was not. The pale man began to walk towards them - expecting no resistance and half expecting them to run. He was met with surprise when Gwen muttered a spell. Some of the words she said were recognizable to him. As soon as he heard them he laughed dryly.

"You humans are so idiotic. Not a single one of you have a magical aura. There's no way y-" For the second time, the magician's voice was cut short by an attacking force.

Blue waves met the bottom of his stomach and he was push backwards - sliding across the concrete road. _What is this!, _Hex thought angrily. _This human has some sort of magical control._

The spellcaster stood back up, but only to be knocked down by something from behind him. He yelled out in frustration. The force that hit him in the back caused the necklace of charms he was wearing around his neck to snap and fly towards the human girl who had knocked him down the first time.

He slid, once more, across the concrete and gained a few scratches on his face from the rough surface.

"No!" He cried as he realized that the Charms of Bezel were no longer in his possession.

Stink Fly then shot wads of green goo at the downed magician. He made sure to cover Hex up completely - save for his head so he could breath. Ben never had the intention to kill anyone and he wasn't going to start now.

For once, the Omnitrix had perfect timing. In the instant the last slimey goo ball was shot at Hex's downed body, the watch timed out and Stink Fly was replaced by Ben's human form.

Hex saw the entire transformation and was even more angry when the two heroes who had beaten him were mere children.

"Children? This cannot be!" He shouted angrily and tried to move, but the sticky glue was too strong for him. He began to chant more spells, but without his staff - or the use of his arms - he was not able to successfully cast anything.

"You know," Ben started, "you were probably the easiest guy I've ever taken down."

Gwen heard the word that singled him as the hero and couldn't help but feel offended.

"You? If it wasn't for me you would probably be a dancing toad by now." Gwen said and put her hands on her hips.

Ben desperately wanted to fight for the fame of taking down another bad guy, but he felt a bit sorry for Gwen. She did do a lot - even when she didn't have powers - and didn't get much credit from anyone. Ben was still a bit sore about how nobody seemed to notice his attitude change - especially the one who he was trying to change for - but he decided that getting angry at Gwen for that would cause a lot of problems.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So...thanks for the help." Ben spoke softly, lightly embarrassed.

"You think that y-...wait what?" Gwen cocked one of her eyebrows up in surprise.

"Nothing." He replied and started walking to the RV.

"You said something!" She called to him. Truthfully, Gwen heard him just fine but she wanted to hear him say it directly to her a second time.

"I never said anything. You're hearing things again."

"Ben Tennyson, You thanked me for helping. I heard you."

Ben chuckled playfully. "I never said that."

Hex, still stuck to the road, began to bump his head against the concrete. He was having a hard time believing that two competing children just destroyed his masterful plan.

Gwen sighed, releasing the argument from her mind.

"Fine. Whatever, but what about him." She pointed to the downed magician who was literally glued to the ground.

Ben stopped walking to the Rustbucket and turned to face the goo-covered man. Before Ben could answer Gwen, their grandfather butted in on the conversation.

"I'm sure the authorities will be here any minute to pick him up. We better get out of here unless you two want to end up in an interrogation room for hours."

Gwen shot Ben a concerned glance, which he returned.

"Nope!" They said in unison and ran to their vehicle.

Ben suddenly tripped over something and fell hands-first to the ground.

"Ben, are you alright?" Gwen asked.

"I'm fine." He quickly responded - ignoring the fact that Gwen wasn't laughing at him.

"What is that?" Max pointed to the necklace that was wrapped around Ben's ankle. There were six crimson stones with weird symbols on the center of them.

Ben unwrapped them from his ankle and stood up - holding the necklace high for everyone to look at.

"I have no idea. I think Hex was wearing them before I hit him in the back." Ben answered.

"I'm sure I can figure out what they are, but right now lets get out of here. I can hear the sirens of police cars." Gwen insisted.

The three got back into the RV and quickly settled in. Within seconds they were driving around the city and looking for the way they came in. Gwen was eager to figure out what the stones were. So her and Ben sat at the table next to each other. Gwen felt a bit uncomfortable with Ben next to her. It wasn't that she hated sitting next to him, as it was quite the opposite.

Gwen opened the screen of her laptop and quickly connected to the internet, which she did so from a Verizon card that had been given to her for he ninth birthday. It was an amazingly fast connection card that was useful when there were no Wi-Fi hotspots.

Quickly, Gwen typed in a search on Google and images began appearing. She simply inputted _magical charms_ into the search bar. Most of the images were of tattoos or necklaces given to people by Native Americans. However, one small image caught the cousin's eyes.

"That's them!" Ben shouted, which made Gwen jump.

"I know that, doofus." Gwen replied.

She clicked on the image and found the site that they were posted to.

"The Charms...of...Bezel?" She read aloud in a skeptical tone. "It says they grant the wearer unbelievable power which allows them to control multiple elements. It only tells what two of them do."

Gwen picked up the necklace that had been laid on the table in front of them. She used her fingers to point out two of them that represented the ones on the screen.

"Luck and fire..." Ben also read aloud.

"Exactly."

She gave the charms back to Ben and closed the screen of her laptop. She looked utterly depressed. Ben always did get the rewards from battles and all the cool gadgets. He never used them.

Ben noticed her expression and felt a bit guilty about taking magical artifacts from her hand. Magic was something Gwen had always been interested in, even if they were cheap tricks. He looked at the charms and thought about what he would do with them.

_They'll probably just sit in my box of stuff,_ he thought.

"Here, you can have them. After all, you did help take down the bad guy today." Ben held out his arm with the charms in his hand.

Gwen turned to face him. She squinted her eyes and looked around, but finally made a pleading expression. Looking Ben right in his eyes, she asked "Really?"

Ben nodded, and Gwen slowly moved her hand up to take the necklace of charms. As soon as their hands touched all of her arm movement stopped and they made a solid eye contact. When the two looked in each other's eyes, they could see a reflection of themselves.

Gwen soon snapped out of the moment and took the charms from Ben's hand. She then looked to the side and sunk her head - blushing.

"Thanks," she muttered and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

**Well this is cool. I just changed my XP theme to black and green and got an awesome Ben 10 background. It looks amazing. Anyways, thanks for all of you who read these chapters. Even when/if all the Bwen fans die out - I will continue writing stories and publishing them. I like people reading and reviewing them, but I write out of passion and will do so even without attention.**

**I know I drag my stories on and on, but I promise the Bwen moments are going to burst out soon. I just like to develop their relationship over time. It makes more sense that way, rather than it happening in one or two chapters. **


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 9**_

_Savannah had told me that I should act sentimental when Ben teases me_, Gwen remembered. _That might be hard - since he said he doesn't want to anymore. _

The Rustbucket was now stopped outside a large shopping center. The main attraction was a large mall in the center of the entire place. Ben wasn't much for shopping, but he was now able to stretch out and walk again - something that appealed to him rather than sitting in the RV.

Gwen was staring happily at the large building full of stores and food marts. Most girls loved malls for all of the things they could buy and see. Gwen, personally, liked them because she could try on and buy so many items of clothing. It was magical how changing clothes could change someone's conscious about how pretty they look. Gwen was really reliable on what other people think of her. She always thought that if someone thought something was wrong with her, then it was true.

The only person that had ever teased her or made some fun of the way Gwen looked, was Ben. However, Gwen never thought much of it. Maybe it was because Ben was a bigger loser than her?

"Grandpa! Come on, how much longer are you going to be?" Gwen shouted to her grandfather from the outside of the Rustbucket.

An audible laugh was heard from inside the vehicle. Max's laugh was always delightful and eased any mind. "I just need to get a few things. Wouldn't want to go in the mall without a bit of money, now would we?"

"If you don't calm down, you might burn your brain out." Ben said and then chuckled at his completely horrid joke.

Once again, remembering what Savannah had said to her: _be sentimental_. There was no way that she could get emotional over what Ben said to her. Every taunt was so...hollow. There was just no point. Besides, her competitive side would simply not let her.

"Oh shut up. At least I have a brain to burn." Gwen retorted with her tongue out.

Ben then remembered how he had said that teasing Gwen was something he wanted to stop doing. Unfortunately, he just couldn't do that. For some reason, making fun of her gave him a satisfying feeling; but it wasn't one that made him feel better than her. The feeling was simply because she had turned her attention to him. He loved how her eyes would dart to his own and how her every thought was focused on getting him back.

In a few more minutes, Max finally came out of the Rustbucket - causing a few wobbles when he walked off the last stair.

"Alright then, lets go." He said happily, and the three began the walk across the road to the mall entrance.

As soon as they entered the big building, their minds were blown off course. The ceiling and floor was covered with a shiny-white marble. All the shops were enclosed in glass with plaster walls on the side. The smell of fresh french fries and foreign food filled the air. A perfume scent had drifted throughout the building from the multiple cologne stores.

"Well, I'm here for you two. Where you want to go first?" Max asked his grandkids, of which one - who had orange hair - was entranced in the setting of the mall.

"I don't really care." Ben murmured.

Max didn't take much notice of Ben's answer, as he expected it. Now he was eying Gwen, who was doing in overall sweep of the stores from afar.

_Clothes, food, perfume!_ Gwen shouted in her head. She couldn't help but feel overjoyed. This was probably the coolest place she would ever visit the whole summer - well, save for the beach.

Snapping back to reality, Gwen turned red out of embarrassment. Acting as if she had been focused the whole time, she said, "Can we go look at some clothes first?"

Max nodded in acceptance and took the lead to the nearest clothes store. The one he was heading to had beautiful white and blue dresses in the window with some green Chinese flowering.

Once they entered the store, the divine smells of the mall left their minds and were replaced with the smell of new shoes and flowers. The store had a lightly-colored wooden floor with plain white walls.

Ben watched as, in the instant the three entered the store, Gwen broke off and began to look at the many dresses that were hung on racks and mannequins. He couldn't help but smile. Ben always liked when Gwen was happy and enjoying herself. He would stay in the mall the whole day if it kept her happy.

"Find something you like, Ben?" Max asked, noticing his grandson smiling.

Ben jumped in surprise and was obviously blushing. "Uhh no...why would I find anything in here? It's full of girl clothes."

Max gave a hearty laugh. "I know, I was just messing with ya' " He answered and roughed up Ben's hair. "I know you don't like it here, but how about letting Gwen have a day for herself?"

Ben was happy to oblige, but he didn't want his grandfather to think something was up.

"Yeah sure..." was his simple answer.

"Glad you're okay wi-" The elderly man's deep voice was cut short by his granddaughter's.

"It's amazing!" She said aloud while holding a white dress up to her, as if trying it on. The dress was all white with many stitching patterns. There was a single rose on the bottom right - which added a perfect flare to the whole look.

"Is that the one you want?" Max asked her.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Can I put it on now?"

Her grandfather put an unsure expression on. "Well I don't know if-"

"Oh don't worry about it. I already got the price on that one." A woman behind the cashier counter called to them.

Max looked reassured. "Well, Gwen, I suppose you can then."

Gwen was all to happy to hear what he said. Before she darted to the fitting rooms, she caught a glimpse of Ben's face. There was a slight smile on it, and it wasn't a devious grin either.

"What do you think about it, Ben?" Gwen asked, feeling a bit awkward.

Ben jumped in shock at the question, but - by natural reflex - threw an insult back at her.

"It looks just as good as a horse's face." He said and then laughed in an attempt to make his taunt sink in.

Gwen rolled her eyes and asked herself, _why did I even bother?_

The orange-haired girl quickly went into the fitting room. There she changed into the white dress and neatly folded her daily clothes. Looking in the mirror that was hanging on the wall in the small room, she concluded that the dress made her brightly-colored hair and green eyes more apparent. In her mind, the dress fit perfectly with her features.

Happily, she danced out of the dressing room and decided to wait outside the store for the rest of her family members.

Ben stood beside Max, waiting at the counter for the bill to be rung up and done with. He looked around and saw Gwen go out of the store and stand in front of one of the building's glass windows. He looked at her and envied how perfectly the dress matched her hair and lush green eyes. She stood against the window, alone, waiting for him and his grandfather to finish up paying.

Gwen was leaning against a glass window - which was colder than the air - and was a bit surprised to see three older boys come up to her. She expected compliments, but what she got was definitely not a compliment or two.

"Look at the little girl with the ugly dress!" One said - the tallest of the three.

"Aww...isn't it just so cute? Where are you going? A wedding?" A second said sarcastically.

The three stood in front of her, laughing. Gwen's eyes began to swell with tears. _Was the dress really ugly?_ She wondered. _Ben...said it was..maybe it isn't pretty._ Her head shifted downward, with her eyes slightly closed. Gwen was trying her hardest to hold back her tears.

"Oh look, the little baby is gonna cry now." The tall boy spoke again.

It was at this time that Gwen became jealous of Savannah. She didn't know why, but the brown-haired girl contiued to ring in her head. Savannah would probably be able to ignore all the bullying. But Gwen wasn't Savannah.

"Hey, leave her alone!" A raspy voice came from a ten year old boy at the entrance to the clothes store.

Gwen looked up, wondering who would be the one to stand up for her. When she saw exactly who had spoke those four words, Gwen was almost surprised.

Ben stood at the doorway to the clothing store, almost looking taller than usual because of the feat he had just accomplished.

"Oh yeah, and what'll you do little kid? Maybe I like making fun of this stupid girl here." The tall one - obviously the group leader - spoke in an arrogant tone.

"Get away from her...now!" Ben roared angrily through clenched teeth.

Throughout the summer, Ben had grown protective over Gwen. He felt an attachment to her in some unusual way that he had never felt for anyone. If she was ever in danger, then Ben considered himself to be in it as well. Before the couple months of summer, Ben could've cared less if Gwen got sick or started bleeding from a cut. Now, if any of those things were to happen, he would always feel that it was his job to help.

One of the three boys - the smallest one who hadn't said a word yet - reached his arm out to take hold of Gwen's hair. His arm never made it, as Ben came up and took the boy's arm and then pushed him to the ground. Feeling accomplished and confident that he could take on the other two, Ben turned to face his next opponent. However, as soon as the ten year old boy turned around he was met with a fist to his face.

Ben flew backwards and landed on the cold marble floor. His nose felt a bit weird and he could feel a liquid coming from the top of it. A throbbing pain ran around his head.

The two older kids who had been making fun of Gwen were now moving closer to Ben - who hadn't even bothered to stand up. Just as they stood next to him - towering over him like tall buildings - a few foreign words could be heard from afar.

"Silvertho - Erthic - Relinquisho!" Gwen's voice was layered with a magical shimmer. She wasn't about to let Ben get hurt anymore than he already was by anyone else. He had stepped in between harmful words and herself, and now it was her turn to repay the favor.

Once the last word rang through the air, thin blue waves were emitted from Gwen's hands. They flew towards the two remaining martyrs and knocked them far back - hitting a large stone column.

The impact sent a spiraling headache raging through two older boy's skulls. As soon as they realized who had caused the weird phenomenon, their eyes widened with surprise and fear.

"Freak!" One shouted.

"Let's get out of here!" The other offered, and they both ran towards the center of the mall.

The smallest of the three - the one Ben knocked down - stood up to see where his friends had gone. He caught a glimpse of them running away and began to follow them - not wanting to be left alone with the _weird_ _girl_.

Ben was still lying on the ground. _Man...that guy packs a punch_, he thought in a daze.

Gwen ran over to Ben and knelt beside him. If it was their first week of summer, Gwen would have been happy to see her cousin get knocked down by someone bigger than him; but things change. She was feeling overwhemled that Ben would come out and stand up for her, and even take a punch - for her. He was lying on the ground, barely conscious, because he protected her.

Gwen wrapped her arms around Ben, savoring the moment that was around them. She let the tears that were held up in her eyes spring free. There was no need to become sentimental when Ben teased her just to find out if he cared about her, because she had all the proof right in front of her. Holding her arms around his neck, she began to sway back and forth - continuosly thinking: _he does care...he does._

"Hey Gwen..." Ben started sleepily.

Gwen stopped moving around and listened. "Yeah?"

"The horse I was talking about ... you know, earlier in the store?"

Gwen suddenly felt agitated. _He's bringing up that stupid joke again? He just saved me and all he can think about is insulting me again?_

The boy paused for a moment to make sure she was listening. When all he got from her was silence, he continued.

"It was a beautiful horse."

**No this is not the end.**


	10. Chapter 10: Max Tennyson

_**Chapter 10 - Max Tennyson**_

Fifteen-year-old Maxwell Tennyson was on his way back from school. Today was the most exciting day in Max's life. Not only was it the last day of school and first day of summer, but his dad was planning on taking Max camping. Just him and his father - something the young adolescent was looking forward to.

He was walking on a poorly-built concrete road heading for his house at the end of it. The house Max and his family lived in was average size for the time. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. In general, Max's culinary life was to be described as _normal_.

However, Max Tennyson himself was definitely not labeled as normal by other peers. He was typically quiet and never said a word to anyone. The young boy's mind was very entertained by the sanctuary of silence. He knew that becoming too social can be derailing and causes a person's mind to offset itself from thinking correctly.

Max never wanted to be associated with the _normal_ kids. As they all seemed to not care about anything other than impressing everyone else. Max really wanted to have a friend - or someone - who would truly care about him and who he could truly care about. Every friend he used to have only hung around him because they thought that sitting alone at the lunch table was awkward. Nobody really cared about anyone around a school. They all just wanted to be funny and joke around. Not Max. The adolescent's mind was matured to its adult stage - completely skipping the useless era of a teenager.

"Oh look, it's Mr. Serious." a boy on a bike said and stopped next to Max. The boy was about the same age as Max, but a little taller, and had a black crop of hair on the top of his round head.

Max Tennyson took a single glance at the bike rider and immediately realized who it was - Robert Tyson. Robert was a typical school bully, who just thought he was the coolest guy since ice was discovered. During school, this guy always bothered other kids - and sometimes would mess with Max. However, Max never allowed his words to get to him.

"So what, you just gonna stand there like ya' didn't hear me. Huh, Maxy?" Robert continued to pester him.

Without looking at the boy, Max stated firmly, "You should leave. Just keep riding your bike and stay away form me."

"Oh!" Robert exclaimed sarcastically, "I'm getting goosebumps. Listen here, kid, I'm gonna take whatever money you have on you. You're richer than most of us, so I know you have some."

He was right, of course. Most of the kids that lived around there were poor and were struggling. Max's family had average income and lived peacefully.

"I don't have any money on me. Now I'm going to tell you again - leave."

"I think you do!" Robert persisted and began to reach his arm towards Max's backpack.

Max turned and took Robert by the forearm - swinging him around and finally tripping him. There, he pinned both of the bike rider's arms behind his own back. Max reached for some string he kept in his backpack and tied Robert's hands together.

"Hey! Untie me you runt!"

"You should've listened." Max stated while continuing to walk down the road.

Arrogance filled Max like rain filling a bowl. He had waited a long time to prove to himself that studying fighting techniques was better than physically training. Proving himself right was one thing Max liked to do. Never in his life had he practiced or exercised. He simply allowed his body to naturally develop muscle. After realizing that he was indirectly making enemies at school for being the _mysterious kid_, Max started to read up on fighting styles and self-defense.

Soon, the young man reached his house. Walking up the stone driveway, he entered through the front door. From the doorway he stepped right into the living room. His mother noticed him walk in.

"How was your day, sweetie?" She asked while cleaning a silverware pot in the kitchen.

"Just like every day, mom. Nothing interesting happened and never will. Boring school day, the usual." He said without giving his mother a chance to respond. Retiring to his room, Max plopped on his bed - only to lay there and stare at the bare ceiling waiting for his father to come home.

_Just once, I wish something cool could happen. Something different, and out of the ordinary._

The light-brown-haired boy could best be described as accepting. He wanted to think of himself as a philosopher. Max was never mean, and was usually nice whenever he could be. The most significant trait about him would probably be his open-mindset. Any opinion or thought that was presented to him would always be cared for. He respected what other people thought, but never took a side on anything.

He sighed. _Just once..._

* * *

Barely a year after finishing school, Maxwell Tennyson joined the United States Army. Because of his knowledge about mechanics and high admission scores, he was sent out as an Action Engineer.

Max typically went on special operations and would manage all the electronic equipment. Even though he was an engineer, Max still had noticeable war-hero skills. As he once held off a horde of enemies single-handedly until an evacuation team arrived. This won him several medals and he was honored for his efforts.

He still had all of his hallmark traits from his childhood. He never spoke unless he had to and usually kept to himself. However, one thing was definitely different about Max that nobody in the military would've suspected. He had a high interest in the extraterrestrial universe and its beings.

One day at base camp in the Caribbean, two men dressed in grey suits approached him while he was underneath a military vehicle doing repairs.

"Major Tennyson," one of the men addressed him, "we need to have a word with you."

Without saying so much as a single word, Max slid out from under the vehicle and stood in front of the two men. They wasted no time in explaining their presence.

"We're here because we understand you have a significant interest in the extraterrestrial world."

"Who wants to know?" Max questioned cautiously.

"Nobody wants to know, because we already do know. Usually, we would ignore this kind of take on alien life forms and dismiss the idea as child's play. However, we need your intelligence and battle skills."

"For what, exactly?" The heart placed in Max's body was now pumping blood faster than normal. He was excited to hear exactly where the conversation was going, but had to stay calm and remember that nothing has happened yet. It would be pointless to get hyped-up for no reason.

The two men in suits shot each other a quick glance, as if signaling for something.

"We'll brief you on the way there." The man on the left who hadn't said anything yet told him. They both turned and gestured for him to follow.

* * *

"Move!" Max shouted. Laser blasts buzzed passed his ear as he ran to pull down his partner, Phil.

Diving, Max took hold of Phil's shoulder and was able to successfully move them both out of the line of fire.

Two years after he had been intercepted by Sector 11, nicknamed "The Plumbers", Max was out in some of the most condemned places on Earth battling aliens. _Fighting aliens...that's something I never thought I would be doing,_ he had once thought.

"Gah!" Phil cried out as he landed hard on a metal catwalk. "How are we supposed to kill that thing. Our weapons are no good. It has the superior firepower!"

"I know, I know! I'm thinking."

A few more laser blasts were aimed and fired at the two plumbers - nearly missing. During the chaos, Max's mind went to work on assessing the situation. The alien that was currently attacking them had technology that no one would've guessed existed. He had a controlled air-compressed jetpack, bombs that were so small they were invisible, a neutronic spaceship, and plenty of other little toys.

"Phil, we have to get close enough so we can use its own weapons against it."

"Okay, so you walk up to it and ask if we can borrow a bomb or two." Phil toyed.

Max couldn't help but let out a little laugh. Even in peril Phil was able to make jokes. Phil was Max's only real friend. They went on many expeditions with each other and were there to support one another. It was a friendship that Max only believed was real in fantasy.

Phil was younger than his battle partner and therefore looked up to Max in many situations. He was amazed at how much Max knew about aliens and technology - basically envying his intelligence.

"Well," Max started, finally responding to Phil's suicide plan, "we could do that. I'm not sure it would work though."

"Me neither." The younger plumber agreed, as if the plan he proposed was serious.

Before they could come up with an actual battle plan, another laser blast emitted from the alien's weapon. It didn't hit either of the plumbers, but it did strike a support beam that was holding up the catwalk.

Breaking in half, the metal walkway caused Max and Phil to slide down a makeshift ramp until they fell completely off.

The two landed on a cold metal ground. They no longer had the high ground and were evenly leveled with the deadly war-alien. Quickly becoming alert to their situation, Phil and Max rolled across the floor in opposite directions. They were now across from each other behind two large blue-steel cylinder columns.

Heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards them. The tech-super enemy was now walking towards them. Max shot Phil a look which told him to move around the column. In unison, they both began to circle around the large metal structures until they were directly behind the alien.

The two plumbers jumped to try and subdue their foe, but the outlander had tricked them. He turned and threw a heavy punch, which was aimed at Phil. Just before Phil's face felt the cold of steel on his face, he was able to pull something from the alien's utility belt.

Max grabbed hold of the neck of his enemy. He was latched on and being swung around.

"Phil!" he shouted, "shoot him!"

Max's head began to twirl as he was flung from side to side - but he wouldn't let go. A rushing headache now embodied itself into the plumber's head. Worse, the alien being had pulled out its laser pistol and was pressing it against Max's stomach.

"Phil!" Max yelled again.

"I can't! I might hit you!" Phil called back, panicking. Sweat beads ran down the young man's face. He didn't know what to do. There was no clear target, and if he shot at the alien he might hit his best friend, and mentor.

In a fraction of a second, the sound of a laser piercing through flesh could be heard throughout the room. Max's facial expression changed from anguish to surprise as the heat of a laser beam passed by him - hitting his hostage.

The full-metal alien now had a hole going right through its stomach. Without as much as a cry of agony, it fell to the unforgiving metal floor - lying there lifeless.

Max stood up and looked at Phil, who held the laser pistol in front of him. His arms were shaking and his eyes were wide open.

"I didn't miss..." he said softly, reassuring himself.

Max walked up to his battle partner. "No you didn't. Good shot." He then put a hand on the back of Phil's shoulder, as if telling him to calm down. "Now let's take a look inside that spaceship."

Phil nodded, and threw the gun on top of their lifeless enemy.

The two walked aboard an eerie spacecraft. Blue and red lights flickered on and off and beeping noises could be heard coming from down a hallway.

"What do you think we'll find here?" Phil questioned while walking next to Max.

"I'm not sure, hopefully not another one of...him."

They walked throughout the craft that had been hidden inside an old warehouse building. The plumbers had gotten a call to come check it out when a weird man could be seen bringing in odd supplies. Their suspicion had been right.

On their walk, Max spotted something odd out of the corner of his eye. He stopped abruptly to figure out what he saw. In a prison-like room, a weird purple-glowing being sat on a bench. It looked sad and heartbroken.

"Help me get this open." Max said to Phil.

"What!" He exclaimed in surprise. "Do you want that to come out and try to kill us too?"

Annoyed by his ignorance, Max said, "We don't know that. This one looks...different. Almost sad."

Phil was still unsure whether it wasn't a hostile alien, but he trusted Max with his life.

"Alright." He agreed.

The two used all of their might to pry open the metal doors - even blasting the hinges on a few occasions. It took them almost fifteen minutes, but the door finally sprung free.

The purple being turned in surprise. She didn't expect to see anyone for a while - especially not humans.

"Who are you?" She asked, backing against the nearest wall.

"Don't worry," Max started, holding out a hand in a gesture of peace, "we just want to help."

Verdona looked into the older-man's eyes and saw something she hadn't seen before in anyone's eyes. Pure sincerity.

"What is your name, and what species do you belong to?" Phil asked hesitantly.

"I am Verdona, and I am an Anodite." She said calmly, feeling trustful around the older plumber.

"I'm Max, and this is my partner, Phil."

That day, Maxwell Tennyson's life took a complete detour. They freed Verdona from her captivity and let her go. She had told the plumbers that she would go back to her home world. Verdona had been captured during flight training and she was taken captive in order to be used as an energy source. She explained how Anodites were energy beings and were typically peaceful. The night she left, Max felt more empty than usual. He didn't understand the feeling, as he didn't even know the female.

A week after that expedition, Max Tennyson received an unexpected visit. Verdona appeared from the night sky during the time Max was out camping on his own, though he didn't know it was her.

Verdona hadn't been able to leave the planet for her own selfish reasons. The night that she was rescued from the spaceship in the warehouse, a fire was ignited inside of her body. It was wild and out of control, nothing was able to tame it - except the thought of a single person. She didn't even know the man very well, who had indirectly saved her and yet something about him kept her tethered to Earth.

"Are you lost? I can take you back to the nearby town." Max had offered the woman who had emerged from the trees.

"No, I'm quite sure this is exactly where I meant to come." The woman spoke. "Max? You don't know who I am?"

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen you before." Confusion was in his voice as she walked up to him.

Suddenly, the woman who had been standing before him transformed into a familiar purple being.

"Verdona!" Max exclaimed, overjoyed to see her.

"I see you haven't forgotten my name." She said with a laugh that was just as heart filled as his own and then transformed back into her human self.

"No I haven't," he smiled, "is your human form reflected on your real age?"

Verdona let her own smile fade. "Well...yes...but I'm only a few years older than adulthood on my planet. Most of my people don't care or listen to what I have to say. They think of me as...insignificant."

Her auburn hair moved freely as a gust of wind blew through the single-man's campsite.

"Why exactly are you here? Did something happen while you were trying to leave?"

Again, she looked at him with a dim expression.

"Something did happen...but I'm not sure if I completely understand it."

"What do you mean?"

Verdona bit her lower lip, unsure of how to explain her feelings.

"Well, you see, my people believe that we can...sense things about a person...and I...sensed something about...y-you."

Max's face didn't change. He was interested in hearing what she had to say - no matter what her people believe.

"What did you...sense in me?"

The young girl moved closer to Max, looking directly up into his eyes.

"I sensed...something that I never thought could belong to anyone. You seemed more free-spirited, like my people, than most humans. But what really...caught me as interesting...was your ability to care about other people . Like what you did for me back on Yulin's spaceship - even though you didn't know me or if I was hostile."

Max let her words sink in, and kept a mental note to remember the alien him and Phil fought as Yulin. He finally came up with an answer to close her words.

"Sometimes you just have to take a chance."

Verdona looked deep into his eyes, and pleaded with them to not see into her own mind.

"Take a chance..." she whispered softly and moved closer to him.

Their lips met like two warriors clashing for battle. Passion, something Max had never experienced before, ran through his nerves and trickled to every inch of his body. A girl he only met once before, had completed the puzzle of his own life. Every part of him wanted to stay around her forever, and make sure that she lived happily. He wanted to fight any fear that would come her way, if he couldn't fight it then he would face it with her. The feelings were sudden and mixed - but he felt true to them.

After years of floating through disputed imaginative territory, Max Tennyson was now able to stand on his own two feet somewhere in the world. Letting someone inside of his mind was something that he never thought he would ever do. He had heard numerous stories and fairy tales about true love and the inexplicable feelings it brought, and he always thought something like love never existed.

The once adamant and quiet man became an open doorway for people to see. Verdona was his _out of the ordinary_ event that he had been waiting to happen. Maxwell Tennyson now understood what it felt like to love someone.

**This chapter is to help everyone understand Max's childhood and the way he thinks. This is a 'historic' chapter and doesn't pertain directly to the original story.**


	11. Chapter 11

** I can feel the power of literature begin to flow throw my mind like leaves in the wind. Sensations that are unexplainable in plain text take hold of my gut and begin to wrench it. **

** I am studying writing styles of different authors and developing technique in my writing. I will, eventually, write the perfect Bwen story, and the art of failing will be my mentor.**

** For those of you skeptics who do not truly understand what perfection is, it is the feeling of pure comfort and accomplishment in something you do or have. It is all personal based. All of my stories thus far have been good, in my opinion, but none have felt completely 'complete'. Soon, though, I will be able to stand on my own ground with a base of a story.**

_**Chapter 11**_

The plastic bag full of blistering-cold ice sat lopsided over Ben's nose. The chill was definitely not controlled and sent the nerves that sat throughout his body electrifying messages. It was almost as if someone were trying to freeze the ten-year-old's nose off.

"You're lucky it isn't broken. That would've caused a mess of problems." Max said while pouring more water into the ice maker.

After he had finished paying for Gwen's dress, Max strode back outside the clothing store. There he found Ben lying on the ground, save for his head which Gwen was holding up. He rushed over to his injured grandson and, without questioning the situation, took him back to the Rustbucket. On their way out the mall manager had approached them. Worried of the possibility that he could be sued, the man offered them discounts and free rounds of food. Max assured him that he need not worry about charges.

"So," the older man finally asked, "what exactly happened while I was gone in the store?"

Ben shot his cousin an uneasy look. He wasn't quite sure if telling their grandfather the truth about what happened was a good idea. Maybe leaving out a few parts would make it believable. But Ben knew by the time he could formulate a perfect lie, his grandfather would have seen through it. Instead, he rounded a couple of thoughts together and placed them in chronological order.

"Ben was trying to show off to a few girls that were passing by. He fell face first on the ground." Gwen spoke for Ben. The brown-haired boy threw his cousin a disdainful look. In reality, Gwen didn't know Ben had thought of a lie and she believed that she was saving both of their skins.

Their grandfather eyed them like a hawk skulking out prey. His stare seemed to send out a message saying, _I know you're hiding something._

Ben couldn't help but get tense. He was afraid that his grandfather could see right through the transparent lie that Gwen had told. _What if he saw it...what if he knows we're lying and he saw the whole thing. What if he heard what I said!_ Ben's mind was racing faster than a NASCAR driver.

"Well, alright then. Let's all head on to bed." Max finally insisted, but Ben swore he could see some glint in his grandfather's eye. Of course, it must of been his own imagination because of the tension he was going through.

"But grandpa! It's still light out!" Gwen protested.

"You know what they say, early to bed early to rise."

Both children were about to rise in an all out riot of refusal, but something about Max caught them as odd. He seemed all too..._accepting_ with their explanation of the events that supposedly went on in the mall.

Gwen retired from argument - clenching her fists in irritation. _Something always has to ruin a good day for me, _she thought. "Ruin?" Her subconscious questioned, "What's it going to take for you to realize that today was the best day of your life?"

The young girl became flustered by her own thoughts. They were conflicting, but her subconscious was right in every way. Today was a day full of more happiness than she could have hoped for. Gwen had always admired Ben's bravery in tough situations, but he was able to admit that he - basically - thought she was beautiful. The memory of him saying so sent imaginary sparks flying throughout her body - it made her excited and left her wanting more. But neither of them had spoken of what he said since then.

After he gave them both a brief smile, Max hopped into his fold-out mattress and entangled himself under blue sheets. Gwen wanted to believe something was up and that her grandfather was just joking. However, she knew he was serious as soon as the snores began to come from the bottom of his throat.

For the second time, Gwen and Ben exchanged glances - shrugging in confusion. Instead of talking or conversing in any way, Ben let his head fall onto the soft bed pillow and Gwen climbed onto her bunk.

_I'm going to stay here and just wait for the sun to go down_, she thought rebelliously. Turning to the side, she now faced the small rectangular glass window that was in the back of the RV. They were parked in a mall parking lot. Gwen could see people still coming in and out of the building happily dancing away. Over everything that was happening, the sun was just above the level of the horizon. It was sure to be dark in half an hour, but that was still too soon to go to bed - at least that's what Gwen thought.

She devised a whole plan to escape from the RV and enjoy herself in the mall. As soon as Ben and her grandfather were asleep, she would quietly climb out of her bed and sneak out. As soon as she was outside, the whole mall would be hers to roam freely.

Gwen laughed inside as she remembered when she had decided to sneak out and go to the boardwalk during the night on the beach. It left her tired and drowsy. _But it was worth it,_ she thought and smiled to no one in particular.

* * *

An hour ticked by - which seemed like mere minutes to the orange-haired girl. Many times had she dozed out of reality and fallen into a brief sleep. It would chip away minutes of time as if they were seconds. However, she was now sure that everyone was asleep - as the only sound was her grandfather snoring continuously.

Easily, she slipped out of the vehicle unnoticed. The whole 'sneaking out' part was so easy, and maybe a little _too_ easy. As soon as she finished closing the Rustbucket's metal door, the air of a new night was thrusted into her head. It was coming faster than her senses could tell her brain what exactly was happening. Although, there was one sound that her brain registered instantly.

"Going somewhere?" The raspy voice of a familiar ten-year-old grinded its way into her mind.

She jumped back in surprise and was just about to let out a shrill scream, but Ben's hand covered her mouth.

"Shh" he whispered into the air. "You can scream all you like in the mall, but lets get away from Grandpa first."

With her cousin's hand still over her mouth, she nodded in acceptance - allowing the adrenaline that had just pushed its way through her body to subside. Ben took his hand back and was prepared for a million questions. He had hoped they could wait until they got out of earshot of their grandfather, but apparently his hopes don't ever mean anything.

"What are you doing out here?" Gwen whispered hesitantly in the brightly-lit night.

Ben motioned for her to start walking. They began to head towards the entrance of the mall.

"Ha, please. I wasn't going to let Grandpa's sleeping problems get in the way of having some fun before we sit in the Rustbucket all day driving." Ben answered snidely.

Gwen smiled in response, but also shook her head playfully - as if some part was denying the whole _sneak out_ business. Then she remembered Max's face before they went to bed and got a little worried.

"But didn't you see his face? Don't you think that was a little weird?" Gwen asked, stopping and putting her hand on his shoulder. Normally, she wouldn't have stopped just to ask a simple question, but Gwen saw this as a chance to feel him. She wanted to savor every moment of being connected to him in some way or another.

Ben didn't reject the unexpected gesture, as he loved the way her fragile hand would grip his shoulder blade - and how her eyes would seep into his as if trying to telepathically connect their minds. Neither of them would ever say so, and that was normal. As they always took a chance at any moment to be next to the other or hold the other. However, the two would never say why. Sometimes, though, it just didn't seem like talking had to be done.

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. He was probably losing himself because he was so tired."

Gwen looked to the side, still holding onto Ben's shoulder. "I hope you're right. Because I don't feel like getting grounded."

They both smiled weakly and then continued into the mall. Once they entered through a set of glass double-doors the familiar scent of food and cologne attacked them like hungry lions overwhelming their prey. There was definitely not that many people - which didn't shock Ben or Gwen. It was a Tuesday night and most people had to work the next day so they didn't stay out late.

Instead of running throughout the mall like dogs without a leash, the two walked next to each other calmly. If they ran around then one of them was sure to leave the other's side, and neither wanted that.

They passed by a jewelry store which held overly-expensive diamond jewelry and gold pendants. All of the rocks were shiny and attractive, but didn't appeal to their sense of beauty. Walking by the jewelry shop, another store which sold hand-made items caught their attention. Looking on from the outside, Gwen spotted a large wooden Tiki head. It was masterfully shaped and formed. Even Ben thought it was quite amazing.

Ben chuckled. "Who would put that in their yard, or even their house."

"I have no idea, but doesn't it look cool?" Gwen said, while still eying the statue.

"Well yeah but..." Ben stopped and decided to try and make the face that was on the wooden art. He cringed his nose up and furrowed his brow. Then he took his lips and pursed them together, making an odd frown face.

Gwen, turning to see why he suddenly stopped talking, started to laugh when she saw Ben's face.

"Oh come on, dweeb." She said and tugged on his shirt, pulling him towards another large hallway in the mall.

They walked down a bit further and came across something that was definitely different from everything else in the well-kept mall. In the center of the large walkway was a midnight-blue canvas stand. It was mostly covered up and the only real visible part was a large crystal ball on a counter in the front of it. There was also a sign attached to the bottom of the canvas tent. It read, "FREE Fortune Telling Booth".

Gwen's eyes shot open wide. It was something to do with magic - or a scam - and she was like metal to a magnet with anything magic. "A fortune teller!" She gasped and spoke at the same time. "Come on."

_Something just isn't right here..._, Ben thought and followed his cousin.

She ran towards the booth and quickly sat down in the chair. The man who was behind the short counter was tall and most of his body was covered up by a blue cloak. Ben swore he saw the man smile when he looked up to see Gwen sitting in the chair at the booth.

"Welcome, you are hear to get your fortune told I presume?" The man spoke in a deep voice - almost as if he was trying to hide his real voice - and he spoke extremely slow.

"Yes!" Gwen answered eccentrically.

This time it was all too obvious. The fortune teller did smile.

"Very well, allow me to see your hand"

Gwen obeyed and let her hand rest on the counter. When the man took a hold of it Ben got tense. The young boy put his hands behind his back and had the Omnitrix ready in case anything happened. _Something...there is something about this guy I don't like_.

With Gwen's hand in his own, the fortune teller put his free hand on the crystal ball. Weird lightning strikes appeared inside the glass orb. What was really odd about the strikes was that they seemed to be coming from the man's hand, rather than the ball itself.

"Would you like to hear what your future holds now?" He asked Gwen.

She was all too happy to hear what was in store for her and could not speak. All she was able to do was nod.

"Death," the man said and smiled a large and devious grin, "and the bringer of it will be me!" After he finished his sentence, his voice sped up and became more sinister. Letting go of Gwen's hand, the fortune teller stood up quickly and ripped off his cloak. Behind the whole charade was Hex. Before the magician had any time to subdue his rivals, Ben transformed into Wild Mutt and nudged Gwen ontop of himself.

The orange hound began to race down the mall hallways. Behind him evil laughter rang throughout the marble-stone floors and ceiling. The sound echoed through the mall - bouncing off every corner and floor tile.

Gwen was having a hard time hanging onto the dog-like alien. The only thing she could keep a grip on were his long fur strands. Everything was happening at a fast pace. Wild Mutt contiued to dash down the halls and Hex was hot on their trail - blasting lightning and using spells to make the water from fountains splash them.

Ben was in Wild Muttt's body, but he still had his own mind of course.

_I knew it. That guy was definitely not some cheap fortune teller, _The boy's voice rang through his own head. Wild Muttt slid into different hallways and dug his claws into the ground so he wouldn't tumble from the smooth floor. Ben had gone into panic mode and was furiously changing directions and jumping over obstacles. A few people spotted the orange alien and let out a shrill shriek - then ran for the nearest exit.

"Ben!" Gwen shouted - beginning to get a headache from being flopped around. "Stop, he's not following us anymore.

Wild Muttt turned on another hallway corridor and then slowed down to a stop. He stood on all fours, panting from the frantic rush of escaping the sight of Hex. Sucking in deep breaths of the mall's cold and dry air, his throat began to hurt.

Gwen dismounted the large beast and swayed back and forth. Her head was in a whirl from the fast-paced attack and instant change in situation. One minute they're walking through the mall enjoying each other's company and the next they're running from a deadly villian.

"What do you think he wants?" Gwen asked Wild Mutt - fully understanding that he couldn't speak. The alien simply stood on its back legs and shrugged. They took a minute to figure out what Hex might be after them for.

_He could want revenge,_ Gwen thought, _it's not like we took..._

She stopped as soon as she realized what was in the Rustbucket that a magician could want. The Charms of Bezel!

"Ben! Hex wants the Charms of Bezel." She spoke directly to Wild Mutt's face - but then backed away because of the horrible scent of his breath. Obviously, Ben understood what this meant and motioned for Gwen to get back on so they could go after him. Ben knew that Hex must of stopped chasing them because he - somehow - figured out that the charms were in their RV.

_But how could he have known?_ Ben wondered. There were so many questions that needed answering.

Gwen sighed. She didn't feel like taking another roller coaster ride. "Can you at least take it easy?" She asked Wild Mutt.

The orange alien nodded in acceptance. Gwen was weary about trusting Ben's word on something like _taking it easy_; however there wasn't much choice. She mounted the creature and sat atop of its back. Her mind then snapped into a scientific-action mode. Before Ben had a chance to take off, Gwen realized that lying down would make the trip less nauseating. She pressed her stomach and chest against the animals back - which was warm like a heated blanket. Then she let her legs drape over Wild Mutt's body and finally locked her arms around his neck.

Ben understood what she was doing, and thought of it as a good idea. Now that she was _securely fastened_ - which Ben called it in his mind - they could smoothly move around the halls and locate Hex before he got to their sleeping grandfather.

Wild Mutt kicked off of the tile floor and rush back into action - a little slower as Gwen requested. He furiously strode through the hallways and corridors trying to backtrack his way back to the entrance they came in from.

They passed by broken fountains and large gaping holes in the ground. _Probably where Hex had shot lightning bolts_, Gwen noted.

Finally, they went by a familiar jewelry shop and were sure that they were on the right track. Unfortunately, before they were able to make it outside, the Omnitrix on Wild Mutt's body began to flash red and emit a beeping noise.

_Oh not now!_, Ben pleaded in his head.

In a flash of red light, Wild Mutt was gone and Ben was now in his spot. The boy landed on the ground because of the height Wild Mutt stood at. Gwen fell with him - her arms still around Ben's neck. She landed on top of his back and they were in a tangled mess.

Both of their faces were beat red, and they each knew. But nothing was said about it, as they had a more important job to do than talk about the color their faces turned when they were unexpectedly close to the other. Gwen unhinged her arms from Ben's neck and she stood up.

"Come on! He's probably already taken the charms in the Rustbucket!" Ben said loudly, taking Gwen's hand as she offered it to help him stand up.

The two rushed out of the mall and into the parking lot. It was much darker than when they had first entered the mall and the moon was now shimmering in the night sky.

Ben arrived at the Rustbucket first and frantically opened the door. He raced up the stairs and into the vehicle - Gwen sooned followed.

"He's not here!" Ben announced worriedly.

Gwen didn't need to ask who, as she could clearly see _who_ wasn't there. Their grandfather wasn't in his bed and Hex was no where to be seen.

"Ben," Gwen started, "make sure the charms are still in the box."

Ben nodded and quickly ran to get the box that was under his bed. He dumped everything out of it, but then remembered that he had given the charms to Gwen.

"I gave you the charms, remember?" Ben asked hurridly.

Gwen instantly remembered and jumped over to her top bunk. She used Ben's bottom bed to stand on and held onto her own for balance. Lifting up the pillow she slept on, the Charms of Bezel were underneath it on the blue necklace - just like she left them.

"Something's not adding up." Ben spoke as Gwen lowered herself from his bed. "Where is Grandpa and what happened to Hex?"

**The next chapter should be the final one. I have quite a bit to cover in it, but I should be able to complete it in 1-3 days.**


	12. Chapter 12: The Rising Sun

_**Chapter 12: The Rising Sun**_

"If Hex took Grandpa then don't you think it would look like a fight happened in here?" Gwen asked, trying to rule out the possibility.

Ben thought hard, as he didn't want to give her an answer that he was unsure about. The boy swallowed. _What if Hex did get to Grandpa and he is holding him hostage to lure us?_

Ben stood up and looked Gwen in the eyes. "We have to find him. I'm not going to stand around and let Hex do what ever he wants."

"I know, Ben, but where are going to look?"

"Everywhere!" Ben shouted back at her. "We'll go back in the mall and tear it apart. Look for clues to see where Hex is hiding!" He was almost screaming now. His fists were clenched tightly and put firmly at his sides. Gwen wasn't the only one who Ben had bonded with over the summer. His grandfather had a large effect on his attitude changes as well.

Gwen looked at her fuming cousin. He was struggling to hold back tears, and his body was filled with hate and confusion. She understood what he felt - holding back strong emotions. As she held back such feelings from him.

Reaching through the tension-filled air, Gwen put her hand on Ben's shoulder for the second time that night. "We'll find him. You're a cool alien super hero. You can do just about anything. And I know you're not going to stop now."

Then, something unexpected happened. Gwen would have bet everything she owned that Ben would turn around and yell at her because of the anger he held for Hex, but he didn't. His shoulders fell into a slouch and a long, deep breath could be heard exiting the ten-year-old's mouth mouth.

"Do you always think that, or are you just saying so now?" Ben asked her.

Gwen was slightly confused. "Think what?"

"Think that I'm a super hero."

A moment of silence was brought upon the two. It was almost as if time stood still for mere minutes. Smiling weakly, Gwen told him, "Even when you're not an alien, or saving people, you still are a hero."

"Who am I a hero for when I'm not saving aliens or helping other people?" Ben was more confused than when he was seven years old and couldn't figure out the man in the mask on Scooby-Doo. Gwen was telling him that people could be heros when they don't have super powers or when they're not saving other people.

The air seemed to be getting thicker and thicker as more tension danced in it like wild animals. The RV's two occupants stood in front of the other, both of their eyes were locked together through a burning stare

"Well...you're a hero for...lots of people when you're just plain old Ben. Grandpa, your mom and dad."

"What could I do when I'm just 'Ben', and not Four Arms or XLR8?"

Ignoring his rhetorical question, Gwen moved closer to him until they could feel each other's breath begin to battle for space. "Most of all, you're my hero."

Ben was shellshocked. Nothing could have prepared him for what she had just said - not even one hundred years at a military training center. His whole mind was split into pieces - shattered by amazement and surprise. Thoughts whirled through him like a broken movie projector. Each image played itself again and again - trying to piece together why Gwen would say anything like that. Especially to him.

"I...don't und-"

"When you were walking with Savannah - why did you come back all wet?"

Surprised at the sudden change of topic, but too dumbfounded to say anything about it, Ben replied. "Because she explained to me how I should just be myself and do exactly what I want to do - no matter what other people think. I liked the cold rain, it made me feel different in a good way."

Gwen was glad that he wasn't freaking out - especially because their faces were merely inches apart. The whole moment was everything she wanted it to be; although, a part of herself was screaming for her to get out of the Rustbucket. That part kept saying that this was the wrong path and it wasn't normal - she didn't believe that.

"What do you really want right now, Benjamin?"

Ben's thoughts were still racing. He wanted to play Sumo Slammers, to go to a water park, to get back to a normal summer of riding in the RV. "I just want to save Grandpa," was his final answer. Ben closed his eyes tightly - as that wasn't what he wanted most right then and there.

Turning around - he began to head towards the door of the Rustbucket on the verge of tears. It was the perfect moment, and now he was letting it slip away. _Why do I always do this! Why can't I do what I want - on my own - just once!_ He yelled at himself in his head.

Gwen watched as the, probably only, chance to explain to Ben how she felt about him was getting away. The moment was being attacked by a vicious reality bug.

_No! _Gwen said to her self. _Not this time, sorry Ben_.

Reaching her arm out to latch onto the back of Ben's T-Shirt, Gwen whirled him around and wasted no time in impaling his lips with her own. Nothing she had ever felt was as soft on her lips as Ben's.

The green-eyed boy gasped in surprise. He wanted to pull back, he wanted to tell Gwen to stop, he wanted to jump around in disgust. But that wasn't what he wanted most.

Keeping the bond between them together for as long as they could, their lips pushed against each other like soft clouds brushing up on one another. The feeling was better than any ice cream treat or roller coaster ride. Ben no longer felt bad about his earlier decision to leave Gwen and head out of the RV. It was probably the best decision he would ever make.

Gwen let go of his shirt and pulled back - taking in deep breaths. Ben did the same. They stared at each other not knowing what to say. The whole event happened faster than either of them expected.

Finally, Gwen spoke in the dense air. "We need to find Grandpa."

Ben nodded.

"Why would you two need to find me. I'm right here." Max said, standing in the doorway that led to the two bunk beds in the back of the RV.

**This chapter is short. This chapter IS NOT the last one - as I had originally planned. I realized that what I write doesn't have to be realistic, nor does it have to be fictional. It should be exactly what I want it to be. From now on, I'm going to write the way I want to - with no standards to meet or criteria to fill. This chapter, was everything I wanted it to be.**

**Thank you Anodite, for helping me become aware of that.**


	13. Chapter 13: Giving It All Back

_**Chapter 13: Giving It All Back**_

"Grandpa!" The two stunned cousins cried in unison. Their hearts began to beat frantically - begging to be released from the imprisonment of the human body. Sweat started to form on the top of their heads and a few drops trickled down their shocked faces. Never in their lives had they felt so nervous or been in such a fragile moment. Everything they would say had to be said carefully and planned.

Gwen closed her eyes - hoping that everything before her was just a mere dream. _I kissed Ben!_ She said in her mind with disbelief. _I kissed that annoying freak of a cousin of mine. My lips...mine...they touched his. What was I thinking!_ No matter how many times she tried to deny everything, Gwen regretted absolutely nothing. There was no longer any doubt in her thoughts or what she had done. It was all exactly how she wanted it.

"W-what are you doing here?" Ben asked Max with obvious hesitation.

Their grandfather held his arms up in a still shrug. "What," he said innocently, "I can't be in my own RV?"

His obvious obliviousness was making both Gwen and Ben feel awkward. Max was playing dumb - and it was direly getting to them. Ben knew there was no going back. He allowed himself to be pulled into a poisonous situation, and trying to get himself out would only numb the pain. Gwen had shown him that she held feelings for him, and he was ready to accept them. No matter what.

"Alright," Ben started, "you got us. Now what are you going to do?" His voice faded towards the end of his sentence. He knew their would be consequences, and they would probably be back in Bellwood in the next couple of days - never to go on another summer vacation.

The setting was tense. Nobody spoke for a long while. Max stood in the doorway - leaning against the frame that connected the back room to the front of the Rustbucket. His gaze continuously switched from Ben to Gwen. Finally, his eyes looked towards the window on the side of the vehicle - into the blue-black nighted sky.

"I know exactly what I have to do here." Max said to his grandchildren firmly. His voice shattered both Ben and Gwen's hearts. They were sure they knew what was coming. "But do you two know what I'm going to do?"

The two adolescents swallowed with fear and uneasiness. There was no way out of the pit they fell into. Feelings that could not be helped had brought them there. It was no one's fault. There is no way anyone can control who they fall in love with.

"Sit down." Max finally commanded them. The three sat at the bench-and-table setup. Ben sat next to Gwen across from their grandfather. "I want to let you two know that I'm not blind."

Gwen, confused, looked at him oddly. "We know that, Grandpa."

"Are you sure?" Max asked questionably. "Because I could see this coming a mile away."

"What coming?" Ben broke in. Before the elderly man could respond to the question, Ben quickly retorted to himself. "Wait...wait...we don't have time for this! Hex is out there right now, and he's probably planning something to take the Charms of Bezel away from Gwen!"

"Hex?" Max asked. Now it was his turn to be confused. "Right now he isn't our problem."

"What are you talking about? He's going to come here any second if I don't do anything. He's probably on his way right now!" Ben shouted and stood up to leave.

"Sit down, Benjamin!" Max used a loud and stern voice. Gwen slouched down further in the soft bench. She had never heard her grandfather speak like that before.

Ben, reluctantly, sat back down in the seat. Max then took a deep breath and then exhaled - releasing all of the sudden stress he built up and some from his earlier confrontation with his grandchildren.

Out of no where, he began speaking his mind. "You two...should know that what you did a minute ago is just wrong in most people's minds."

Gwen was taking his words harshly. She was flooded with guilt and almost wanted to cry. But it wasn't her fault, why should she be punished for something that she was powerless to stop? _This just isn't fair!_ She screamed in her head.

"But I'm not most people."

Suddenly, Ben and Gwen both turned their full attention to the white-haired man sitting across from them. They were both utterly puzzled by what he meant by his recent confession.

"I knew this would happen eventually." Max shook his head, smiling hysterically while letting out faint laughs.

"What do you mean 'you knew this would happen'?" Ben asked.

"You two were just so protective of the other. You're constant teasing was an obvious sign that you wanted each other's attention."

Gwen felt an odd churn in her stomach. A tingling sensation of truth was spread throughout them both. Ben and Gwen both knew why they teased and taunted the other, but neither of them had ever stopped to think about it.

"And...from all of this," Max continued, "I just wanted to let you two know that...I'm not going to get in the way. I-I know what it feels like...to have someone to care for and who cares about you." The older man couldn't believe he was having this conversation with anyone. "Because, I felt the same way when I met your grandmother. She was the light in my dark life...she changed who I was."

Max seemed to be getting lost in his own memories. He was no longer focused on the two adolescents that sat across from him. His eyes were darting from different objects in the RV - as if they were moving from place to place.

"My friend...my best friend...Phil. He changed the day I told him what happened when Verdona came to see me one night while I was camping alone. He told me I was crazy, that I was dumb, for falling in love with an alien. But I couldn't help it. She was just so perfect, and everything was so right." He took a deep breath - a few hiccups escaped his throat - and continued. "I just don't want you two to have to go through that. Phil was wrong to do what he did, and I'm not going to do that to you guys. You two have brought joy to my life. This summer has been amazing. I wouldn't even think of going back to change it."

The fragile moment that they thought would be upon just wasn't there. Everything was so soft and comforting - nothing seemed to be out of place. Ben slid his hand across the padded booth-like seat and laced it into Gwen's. She clenched his tightly and closed her eyes. It was a free feeling, and it was exactly what she wanted.

In that moment, the windows on the Rustbucket were shattered by a magenta magicka. A thunderous laugh echoed throughout the air.

"Hex..." Ben said solemnly.

Max's head shot up in surprise. "Ben I-I'm sorry. I thought you were trying to make up an excuse to leave."

Ben smiled. "I'm glad you didn't believe me." Lifting his arm up, the Omnitrix flashed into his eyesight; but before he was able to decide on an alien, Gwen's arm blocked his point of impact.

"We never get to hang out." She said.

The green-eyed boy smiled at her. "One day. I promise." He then let his lips guide him to her forehead where he planted a light kiss. The orange-haired girl's face lit up. _Everything feels so right... _ Bliss was put into Gwen's mind - it was calming and peaceful, which reminded her of someone.

In a flash of green light, Ben was gone and Stink Fly was in his place.

"Gotta fly!"

* * *

The hot water ran down the young girl's tanned skin. Her hair glistened in the steaming liquid. In the reflection of the shower mirror, her blue eyes sparkled like the ocean water during a sunny morning.

Turning a metal valve in a specific direction, the running water quickly died down until it was no longer coming from the shower head. After letting some of the water drip from her body, she grabbed a plaster-white towel off of a nearby rack and began to dry the rest of her body.

Once all of the liquid was displaced from hair and body, she stepped out of the tub-like shower and began to dress herself. Simply, she wore a pair of underwear and a midnight-blue dress which ran down to her knees. Her dark brown hair and blue eyes were flashing in sync with the little jewels that ran vertically down her dress.

The condo that she lived in was silent, and she adored the solitude of not having anyone around. Most of the time, her parents were gone at work or just getting drunk at a bar. She was usually left to fend for herself. That was exactly how she learned to be calm. If she were like any other typical twelve-year-old girl then she would have gone mad by now.

Suddenly, outside the front door that let into a hallway of the large building, the young girl heard the sound of whirling wind come and go - almost in an instant.

_That's weird. There shouldn't be a draft anywhere out there._

Out of curiosity, the brunette girl strode softly and steadily towards the front door - putting one foot in front of the other. This walking style allowed her to move quietly and comfortably without disturbing anything around her. She learned how to do so by reading a book on Native American hunters.

When she arrived at the door that led outward into the condo's hallway and then into the reception area, she turned the knob and opened it. Nobody was in front of her, but there was a bouquet of flowers and a letter below her feet. Picking them up, she saw that they were orange and green flowers. Opening the card, she read aloud,

"_You were the thing that helped us realize what we knew but could not say,_

_You helped us speak without words,_

_You lit the torch for us to follow in darkness,_

_Thank you."_


End file.
